Regions

Features

TANZANIA: India urged to continue AIDS drug supply

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

JOHANNESBURG, 18 March (PLUSNEWS) - HIV-positive Tanzanians will hold a peaceful march at the weekend in the capital, Dar es Salaam, urging India to continue manufacturing cheap AIDS drugs and supplying them to developing countries.

India has been under pressure from developed nations to phase out its line of generic AIDS drugs, and is planning to present a bill in parliament that would halt further production of generic antiretrovirals.

However, the Tanzania Network of Organisations for People Living with HIV/AIDS (TANOPHA), said the Indian government should first consult widely on the impact of the bill on public health worldwide.

"We want to urge the government of India to hold dialogue with health activists and organisations globally, to ensure protection of public health and access to medicines for all. For a long time we have been using the Indian generic drugs because they are cheap - one ... [month] costs about US $30, as compared to the branded drugs that cost over $1,000 [per month]," TANOPHA chairman Julius Kaaya told a local newspaper, The Guardian.

[ENDS]

MORE NEWS BRIEFS