ZAMBIA: Debt relief to fuel AIDS battle

Debt relief by the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations will allow Zambia to use millions of dollars to provide free anti-AIDS drugs to HIV-positive people by the end of the year.

The government recently scrapped the US $9 fee that people receiving treatment were required to pay each month.

Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande told Reuters: "We realised that people were even unable to go for testing, let alone pay the small fee to access antiretrovirals."

Some 13,000 of the estimated 200,000 people in urgent need of the life-prolonging drugs currently have access to them.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews,

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