It's a good week at Bulongwa CTC - all our clients are doing very well.

They're gaining weight after receiving ARV medication. Many have put on five kg and others, like Kabuyu, even more.

We now have two children aged 15 in the program. The first is a girl who is living at the orphanage in Bulongwa; she has been on ARV since January 2005 when she had low CD4 count and many opportunistic infections. But now she is very, very well with a high CD4 count and liver function test results that are good.

The second 15-year-old lives a distance away from our Hospital, nearly 5 kilometers. But he comes every month for his ARVs. His body weight is now 35 kg and he is doing fine. He is in primary school.

We are also very happy that we could treat the opportunistic infections that one child, aged 3, was suffering at the Bulongwa Orphanage. She has improved greatly and following a CD4 test at Ikonda Hospital, we are going to start her on ARVs on 14/6/2005.

Today, we are going to attend training at Bulongwa Dayosisi on the Care International plan to care for PLWHA, especially to supply them with food and nutrition.

Your reporter
Mary Musoma - CTC Nurse
Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital,
Makete, Iringa, Tanzania.