HIV Care for 5000 children/caregivers in Swaziland

Bhekani is a 43-year-old man who resides in Shewula in the Lubombo region. Bhekani saw the Kudvumisa CHIPS mobile van passing by his community; he was curious what the mobile clinic vehicle was doing. One day he asked from other colleagues about Kudvumisa. He decided to go and be tested for HIV in February 2016.

Bhekani was counseled for testing which he agreed to do. His results were positive. Physically he was very ill, having chest infections which he started treatment for. He was tested for Tuberculosis and the results were negative. He was initiated on Anti Retroviral therapy and then given the medication. After 4 days he felt very sick and phoned CHIPS to tell us that he stopped taking the medication.

We checked on him and found that he was suffering from side effects from the medication. We took some time to counsel him about the side effects and that they would subside with time, however he refused to continue with the treatment. After this, we gave him time to think about it and then called to tell him about the advantages of taking the Anti Retroviral medication, but he still refused to restart it.

In November 2017, Bhekani called us to say he was very sick and that he needed CHIPS to help him. We responded to the call and found that he was very weak, coughing and having severe chest pain. You could tell by the way he was breathing that he was very sick. For the second time he was tested for Tuberculosis and he was then transported by the Kudvumisa patient transport vehicle to the nearest hospital, where he was admitted for 7 days.

A month or 2 later when he was back home in January 2018 we received a call to say he had collapsed. We again visited him and found out he had suffered from a stroke and so we brought him to the nearest hospital where he was admitted for 2 weeks. When he was discharged he was in a wheel chair and was unable to help himself. His mom at home was the only person to help him. We encouraged him to continue taking ARV's and this time he did. A month later he was able to push himself on a wheel chair outside his home on the veranda. A month after this, he was able to use walking sticks to go to and from the toilet which is situated outside. He was also able to bath himself.

In April 2018 we visited him and he had greatly improved. He is still using the walking sticks but now he is able to climb inside our mobile clinic to refill for Anti Retroviral medication. Bhekani is very happy with Kudvumisa and Chips for being there for him and giving him hope, taking good care of him and encouraging him to continue taking his medication. Bhekani apologized for refusing to continue with the ARV’s and for not listening to CHIPS when they told him about the side effects of ARV's and that it would subside after some time. Here is a statement from him saying, "Chips ungivuse ngifile” meaning “Chips raised me from the dead.” All he can say is "Ngiyabonga CHIPS" - “Thank you CHIPS”!

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In Swaziland there are private dental practices available, however, as you go out of the city area and especially into the rural areas, you will notice that these opportunities and practices are not available. These people have many health problems and public oral health needs are one of them.  These people do not have local access or affordability to access the clinics in the city. We are in the process of building/construction in the Maphiveni area and once it is complete not only will we have a main health clinic but we will also have a dental clinic available for the communities in and around this area.

A generous dentist has pledged a $15000 donation in matching funds toward Kudvumisa's new dental clinic. The dental clinic will be built in the ground level below the main health clinic. There is a great need in this country, especially in the rural areas, for compassionate dental care. Many dentists that have volunteered in Swaziland through either mobile or school based outreaches have commented on the impact that the lack of access to quality and compassionate dental care has on the rural population.

National priorities are inclined to saving lives during the high scourge of HIV/AIDS prevalence at the expense of preventive services like Oral Health. This has caused a lot of advanced diseases like malignant lesions from preventable complications of untreated simple procedures that could have been helped at their early stages.

Our dental clinic will provide access to quality, compassionate and consistent exceptional dental care in a comfortable and friendly environment to a population and in an area where it is currently unavailable. We will have a skilled dental team which will be able to assist patients with a wide range of dental treatments and services, including children, general, emergency, cosmetic and dental hygiene.

Good dental or oral care is important to maintaining healthy teeth and gums. Oral problems are treatable with proper diagnosis and care. The goal of dental care is to prevent and control oral diseases, conditions, and injuries, and improve access to preventive services.

For most people around the communities it is normal to have dental pain of some kind and they are not able to do anything to help with the pain or the cause of the pain accept to wait for it to subside or they use herbs which most brings more damage to the body than good. Most of the people in this area work in the sugar cane fields. They are low income earners who are characterized by large family dependents, malnutrition, school drop outs and a high prevalence of dental problems because of the need of funds to help with other health problems.

We believe and have seen that there is a lack of knowledge in this area and so we are looking forward to establishing the dental clinic at Maphiveni. With this clinic we will be able to bring knowledge about the importance of dental care and to also show them the importance of taking care of their teeth.

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