In a report Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans frontière or MSF) highlights major direct and indirect constraints which contribute to a huge treatment gap in Western and Central Africa as compared to other regions: a limited political will, weak health systems and few ways to improve access to quality treatments.
In Photos: Millions of Africans Left Out of Global HIV Response
5
The arm of Julia, a patient ill with advanced AIDS at the Centre Hospitalier Kabinda, Kinshasa, DRC.
6
Jean-Pierre Lingombe suffers from AIDS and tuberculosis. He was hospitalized at MSF’s HIV-AIDS hospital in Kinshasa and treated for HIV and AIDS. Jean-Pierre is now followed by the Roi Baudouin Hospital in Kinshasa for his tuberculosis treatment. However, at the time of the visit of the photographer, he had not received his TB drugs because of a drug stockout at the hospital.
7
Elise, 12, was infected with HIV during her mother's pregnancy. She received antiretroviral treatment erratically in the early years because of her mother's lack of knowledge on how best to care for an HIV-positive child. As a result she developed a resistance to the first set of antiretroviral drugs. Elise lost her battle with HIV and died a few days after these pictures were taken, Kinshasa. Her mother Agathe wanted MSF to publish these pictures. "It cannot help Elise, but it may help others in the country," she said. (MSF/Rosalie Colfs)