Brazil pledges anti-AIDS drug assistance

MOZAMBIQUE: Brazil pledges anti-AIDS drug assistance

JOHANNESBURG, 6 Nov 2003 (PLUSNEWS) - Brazil has pledged to make antiretroviral drugs more accessible to people living with HIV/AIDS in Mozambique.

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who is currently on a five-nation tour of Africa, said his country would build a factory in Mozambique to manufacture cheap anti-AIDS drugs.

Lula da Silva was quoted by the BBC as saying: "We intend to produce antiretroviral drugs here ... in the shortest possible time."

By defying multinational drug companies and manufacturing generic versions of patented drugs, Brazil has emerged as a model for the developing world in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

It is estimated that due to the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, life expectancy in Mozambique could drop to just under 40 years by 2010.

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