In the Chris Hani district in the Eastern Cape, a fifth of the roughly 25,300 parcels of ARVs and chronic medication weren’t collected between January and March. It is a feat for many of the locals to get to and from the Philani Clinic, and with little money and help, they end up going without important medication. But one local hero, Siphelo Lose, has become a lifeline to the people in rural areas who can’t get to clinics themselves.
“Every morning at 8am I come to the clinic to check who didn’t collect their parcel the day before. Then I call them to find out when would be the best time to deliver. “We don’t want to see people dying when their treatment is sitting at the clinic. If an individual with HIV skips their medication, the virus may replicate within their body, compromising their immune system and increasing their susceptibility to other infections.