People with AIDS have difficulty finding “friendly medical care,” even though the efficacy of HIV therapy and medicine have improved over the past decade, a study by the Taiwan Lourdes Association (TLA) found.
“We have seen advances in recent years in raising the health-related quality of life for AIDS patients. However, it is not enough to rely only on medical treatment to improve the quality of care for these patients,” TLA director Chiu Pao-yi (邱飄逸) said on Dec. 20.
TLA, a Catholic mission organization focused on care for people affected by AIDS, tracked the quality of living of people with AIDS over a 10-year period. It obtained 2,605 responses, 90 percent of which were from men, while the average age was 37.56.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Lourdes Association via CNA
Chiu said the results showed substantial improvement in health-related quality of life for people with AIDS, and that compared with 10 years ago, side effects impacting normal living due to medical treatment fell by 10 percent and ill health effects on the body impacting normal living declined by 15 percent.
However, mental health quality only saw a slight improvement and a decline in some respondents, Chiu said, adding that people still face issues related to work, intimate relationships and social interaction.
People who experience melancholy or depressive episodes had increased from 79 percent in 2013 to 98 percent last year, Chiu said.
The biggest challenge is finding “friendly medical care,” a troubling issue for 34.6 percent of respondents in 2013, which increased to 61.7 percent last year, she said.
In the past, people with AIDS had to prioritize trying to survive, but as advances in medicine have turned HIV infection into a chronic illness that can be controlled, the scope of their treatment has encompassed other medical specialties and include the “friendliness” of treatment, she added.
A man nicknamed “Brother Guang,” who has lived with HIV for 23 years, said a friend who also had AIDS was refused joint replacement surgery that arose from his osteoporosis.
“He had to turn to a hospital in central Taiwan to get the surgery, which was successful. Another friend needed an operation for cancer, but he could not find a friendly caregiver for more than two weeks,” Brother Guang said.
Taipei City Hospital Renai Branch attending physician Yen Wen-wei (顧文瑋) said AIDS treatment and its environment face two major challenges: prejudice and bias against people with HIV in the medical system, and problems in communication between patients and doctors.
“This study showed that 30 percent of HIV patients faced discrimination when seeking medical treatment, and 38 percent said they do not know how to discuss with medical professionals the side effects of taking certain medicines,” Yen said. “Overall, most personnel in the medical system lack sufficient knowledge about AIDS, and have issues of disparity in authority between patients and doctors, leading to problems in communication.”
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