ZAMBIA: Anti-AIDS treatment programme caters for the blind

JOHANNEBURG, 8 Mar 2005 (PLUSNEWS) - Visually impaired HIV-positive Zambians are accessing free anti-AIDS and tuberculosis treatment via a project managed by the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA).

JICA's resident representative, Eiji Inui, said one of the project's main objectives was to reach more blind people. According to Elijah Ngwale, chairperson of the Zambia Disability HIV/AIDS Human Rights programme, the blind had been left out of many HIV/AIDS programmes.

Inui told a local newspaper, The Times of Zambia, that his agency was working with the University teaching Hospital (UTH), the country's biggest referral centre, where the blind would access TB and HIV/AIDS drugs.

He said the five-year JICA-UTH project would end in March next year, but he hoped to leave an improved TB and HIV/AIDS diagnostic system in the region.

[ENDS]