'Care of HIV-infected patients is progressing very well in the Netherlands'
| Dr. Frank Kroon is an infectious disease specialist in the department of infectious diseases at the Leiden University Medical Center. As a staff member, he is involved in the treatment of HIV and other serious infectious diseases. Since 2009, Dr. Kroon is chairman of Stichting HIV Monitoring’s (SHM’s) governing board. |  |
"The SHM collects anonymous data from all people infected with HIV, which can be collated to provide an overview of how the HIV epidemic is developing in the Netherlands. With this information, we advise various groups including policy makers.” Furthermore, the data from SHM is an important component of the total European data set on HIV. “It allows you to observe very subtle changes over the years. You can then, for example, say much more about how often certain problems occur, such as heart disease.”
The recognized HIV treatment centres and the foundation itself can use SHM’s data for research. “We get many requests to use our data," says Kroon. SHM assesses applications on scientific merit, feasibility and relevance.
The data from the SHM can also be used to monitor the quality of HIV care in the Netherlands as well as in the individual HIV treatment centres. The SHM also provides data for the Visible Care programme (Zichtbare Zorg, ZiZo) run by the Public Health Inspection Agency. "If you look at HIV care in the Netherlands, it is very good. Especially when you compare it to around fifteen years ago, when everyone who was infected with HIV died. In relation to quality of care, the Netherlands does it just as well as any other country.” But not all questions are answered. “We think that AIDS has become a chronic disease that you can become old with, but it’s really too early to say for sure. We know, for example, too little about the long-term side effects of anti-HIV medications.”
Kroon's vision for the future is sober. "Knowledge is power. If you know what you're dealing with you can make plans, whether it’s understanding the course of the HIV epidemic or monitoring and improving the quality of care.”