Ensuring round-the-clock access to drugs could help improve retention in care and consequently outcomes of HIV-positive patients in low- and middle-income countries. The project, which can be supported through crowdfunding until May 30, 2017, would examine the impact of installing a 24/7 medicine dispensing machine in a busy urban HIV clinic in South Africa.
The treatment team (ISPM’s Matthias Egger, Julia Bohlius and Janet Michel) hypothesize that convenient access to medicine dispensing machines will decrease disengagement from treatment by people who are on anti-retroviral therapy or suffering from other chronic illnesses, ultimately improving health outcomes.