AIDS drug demand outnumbers resources

UGANDA: AIDS drug demand outnumbers resources

JOHANNESBURG, 25 Jan 2005 (PLUSNEWS) - Uganda has expressed concern over the rising demand for anti-AIDS drugs, which is outstripping available resources.

According to Ministry of Health officials, the number of HIV-positive people reporting daily to the Infectious Diseases Institute at Mulago Hospital in the capital, Kampala, was "overwhelming", having shot up from 100 before Christmas to 300 at present.

The director of the institute, Prof Keith Mark Adam, told a local newspaper, New Vision, that only 700 of the 20,000 people attending the institute had access to treatment.

It is estimated that between 100,000 and 150,000 of the one million people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda need anti-AIDS drugs.

[ENDS]

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