AIDS IN AFRICA - WHAT DRUGS DO THE CARERS WANT OR NEED

Our objectives were: (1) to discover requirements for treatment of pat ients with AIDS (PWAs) for healthcare workers in eight English-speakin g African countries; (2) to establish policies for supply of drugs, an d develop a method for determining the contents of parcels (PWA-BOXes) for the relief of PWAs. Fifty-seven questionnaires were sent to non-g overnment medical units treating PWAs, supplied by the charity Inter C are. Of these 37 units replied, two had no known PWAs, three were swam ped by refugees; therefore, the total number analysed was 32. Only 24 units had access to HIV testing and the mean number of PWAs per unit w as 58. The reported complications of AIDS were: diarrhoea 28 units; tu berculosis 27 units; pneumonia 28 units; sexually transmitted diseases 26; candidiasis 28 units; and herpes tester 20. Lists of drug require ments were received. We present a protocol for calculation of contents of PWA-BOXes in the hope that this will provide guidelines for other workers in this field.