Antiretroviral Adherence Counseling and Support in East Sudan I Introduction In Sudan around 69 000 people are living with HIV and HIV prevalence is at 0 4 Sudan has one of the largest populations of people living with HIV in Middle East and North Africa and the country is moving forwards in addressing some of the obstacles which have been preventing scale up of HIV prevention treatment and care Today more than 150 centers are providing testing and counselling and 32 treatment sites have been established around the country to make access to antiretroviral treatment more widely available UNAIDS website HIV care and treatment services were first introduced in Sudan in 2003 Antiretroviral Treatment Centers ART were established as standalone facilities which are detached from the hospital management and service delivery system are directly connected to State AIDS Control Program SACP The ART Centers generally have their own management system in separate building with their own laboratories pharmacies The running costs of these centers are provided from the SACP Although the ART Centers do not include admission wards so they often request the general hospital to admit the sever cases of Patients Living with HIV PLHIV In 2009 it is estimated that 80 of budget that support the HIV services are from external sources mainly the Global Fund The contribution of Global started to decline since In 2014 a plan to integrate HIV program in hospital management and to involve the civil society organisations
