ZIMBABWE: Anti-AIDS treatment goes rural

JOHANNESBURG, 23 Aug 2005 (PLUSNEWS) - Zimbabwe is intensifying its fight against HIV/AIDS in rural areas by providing three districts in Matabeleland North Province with free antiretrovirals, a gathering of local doctors has heard.

Provincial governor Thoko Mathuthu told the Zimbabwe Medical Association Congress in the capital, Harare, that the districts benefiting from the rollout would be Lupane, Hwange and Tsholotsho.

An official Zimbabwean newspaper, The Herald, quoted Mathuthu as saying, "This will go a long way in assisting the community in these rural areas to access the drugs."

She commended the more than 300 doctors who had remained in the country, despite the brain drain of medical professionals to the West.

[ENDS]