AFRICA: Better AIDS treatment for world's poor - MSF

JOHANNESBURG, 28 Nov 2003 (PLUSNEWS) - HIV/AIDS treatment procedures must be demystified, simplified and adapted to the needs of the world's poorest communities in order to be effective, the international medical NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), has said.

"To scale up treatment on a large scale, we have to adapt treatment models to real life," president of MSF's international council, Dr Morten Rostrup, told reporters in Nairobi.

With scores of people in developing countries still unable to afford antiretroviral treatment at around US $270 per person per year, MSF stressed that it was also essential to provide the treatment free of charge.

"Adaptation means fewer pills per day, fewer lab tests and free treatment, dispensed in the communities where people live - that is, at district facilities and at community health posts," Rostrup said.

[ENDS]