DRC: Free ARV treatment programme introduced

People living with HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are benefiting from a new free antiretroviral drug programme, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said.

The international relief NGO said its recently launched programme began with the initial enrolment of just seven patients in the eastern DRC town of Bukavu.

MSF expected to take an additional 10 people each month into its treatment programme, which will ultimately include 150 recipients of free antiretroviral drug therapy by January 2005.

The deputy head of MSF-Holland in Goma, Hilary Bower, told the UN news service, PlusNews, that the NGO had pledged a five-year commitment, after which the sustainability and local capacity of the programme would be re-evaluated.

Bower said a lot could change in five years, and expressed hope that HIV/AIDS drugs would become much more affordable for both NGOs and people living with the virus by the end of the five-year period.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews, Children,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]