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MOZAMBIQUE: AIDS drug rollout hampered by staff shortage

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 27 May (PLUSNEWS) - Serious staff and equipment shortages are preventing Mozambique from launching a national anti-AIDS drug programme.

Health Minister Francisco Songane said many of the estimated 120,000 HIV-positive people who were "urgently" in need of antiretroviral treatment did not have access to the drugs.

Approximately 1.5 million of the country's 18 million population are living with HIV/AIDS.

Songane was quoted by Reuters as saying: "It is simply impossible to imagine that we can distribute [antiretrovirals] countrywide; we do not have the capacity to do that; we do not have the trained manpower or the infrastructure to handle such a massive programme."

[ENDS]

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