Steady growth in antiretroviral treatment provision by disease management and community treatment programmes.

To the Editor: Although access to highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) in the South African public health sector is closely monitored,1 much remains unknown regarding the numbers of HIV-positive individuals receiving HAART outside the public health sector. Access to HAART in the private health sector is probably considerably better than in the public health sector, as private sector patients can often afford the costs of HAART, and many are beneficiaries of medical schemes, which are required to provide HAART to eligible beneficiaries as a prescribed minimum benefit. An investigation conducted in 2005 found that by the middle of 2005, at least 50 000 South Africans were receiving HAART through disease management programmes (DMPs), workplace treatment programmes (all of which are administered by DMPs) or community treatment programmes.2 This investigation was repeated in 2006, with the objective of estimating the numbers of people receiving HAART by mid-2006 and the rate of growth in numbers on treatment between 2005 and 2006.