On ARVs? Then quit drinking

She relates the severity of alcoholism to TB which is the most common and serious opportunistic infection for those with HIV. “HIV and alcohol are a dangerous combination too since both kill the immune system.

This is despite the fact that those who abuse alcohol practice poor diet and are less likely to adhere to the drugs.

There have also been reported cases of patients who wash down their ARVs with alcohol. Doctors warn that this could cause serious side effects.

Those who drink excessively also run a high risk of foregoing treatment thus causing a drop in the CD4.

Without effective treatment, the average decline per year in CD4 count is 60 to 80 cells per ml although this varies from one patient to the other and over different times.

Despite the recognition of the role that alcohol plays in fuelling the HIV pandemic, researchers are facing many challenges on how to respond to alcohol use in HIV prevention and adherence to anti retroviral drugs.

In East Africa, few HIV prevention programmes, including VCT programmes have directly addressed the issue of HIV risk behaviour as a result of alcohol use.

This is partly because service providers offering HIV prevention programmes are not formally required to ask their clients about whether they use alcohol hence missing a great opportunity to address the risk factor.