AIDS Treatment Information Centre (ATIC) – Uganda

In an effort to improve the quality of HIV/AIDS medical care offered by HCPs, ATIC runs a toll free call-in-centre managed by two HIV clinical pharmacists supported by physicians with expertise in HIV pharmacotherapy. ATIC subscribes to current issues of relevant medical journals and has access to various websites and hard copy resource materials that support the ATIC staff in their work. HCPs utilising the ATIC service are able to benefit from these resources though this free service in which users submit a query, either by toll-free telephone line or e-mail, which is then attended to by the ATIC pharmacists. ATIC receives and answers queries on any aspect of AIDS prevention and treatment from any health worker. The vast majority of calls received are from Uganda, but it also responds to queries from other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as some queries from the United States of America, Europe, and India.

A quarterly newsletter is distributed free of charge to healthcare workers in Africa. The newsletter focuses on the needs of the health care workers based on queries received. ATIC also produces and disseminates other informational materials such as flyers and drug information charts. For example, ATIC produced 10,000 copies of a drug identification chart and 36,000 drug information leaflets to facilitate patients understanding of the drugs they are taking, with the goal of improving adherence. According to the organisers, the hotline is also useful in identifying research gaps.

Health, HIV/AIDS

ATIC services are intended to be integrated into the Ministry of Health's funded programmes. This initiative commenced after results from a survey carried out at the ICASA 2003 conference indicated the need for a treatment information centre in Africa that could provide HCPs with up-to-date information on HIV/AIDS.