ZAMBIA: UN lauds free anti-AIDS treatment expansion

Zambia's recently announced plan to make free anti-AIDS treatment available to all its HIV-positive citizens has received praise from the UN.

According to Stephan Lewis, the UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, the treatment expansion was due in part to new support from the Global AIDS Fund, and laudable government efforts.

"Everywhere I went, people were clamouring for free treatment ... The collective, cumulative sense I had was of a country on the move against the pandemic - the shift in the response was palpable," Lewis said in a statement.

Free treatment was previously only available in parts of the capital, Lusaka. Monthly treatment in rural areas cost US $8, and upwards of $30 when transportation and lab costs were taken into account.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews,

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