THOUSANDS of people living with HIV in the North West are boycotting their antiretroviral treatment.

Patients, especially those based at home care centres, have taken this suicidal stance after their monthly stipends were suspended by the South African Security Agency (Sassa), a company contracted by the department of social development to monitor funds for beneficiaries eligible for government assistance.

The agency says it suspends stipends after patients complete five years' of treatment. However, Sassa spokesperson Zodwa Mvulani said patients were told to go back to their doctors to check their CD4 count.

"On advice from the doctor that the patient is still weak and need assistance, we will put them back on the payroll."

According to the Treatment Action Campaign - for antiretrovirals to work - patients must adhere to a daily regimen of ARVs for life.

Interrupting treatment can result in HIV becoming drug resistant, with first-line therapy no longer being effective.

The South African National Aids Council, which advises the government on Aids policy, has recommended raising the CD4 treatment threshold from 200 to 350 cells/mm.

A patient from Matlhonyane village near Mahikeng who declines to be named, said she would not take any more treatment until the government reinstated her R1080 stipend. "I used to buy healthy food for myself as well as provide for my family. Now that the government has cut my only income, my family goes to bed with empty stomachs."

Department of Health spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane said: "We will meet with Sassa management to see if we can't come up with a solution to benefit everyone."