ZIMBABWE: WHO '3 by 5' target missed

Zimbabwe has failed to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) target of providing anti-AIDS drugs to at least 120,000 HIV-positive people by the end of 2005, local newspaper The Daily Mirror reported on Tuesday.

The lack of adequate foreign currency to purchase medicines and the low numbers of people being tested for the virus prevented the country from even reaching its own target of 55,000 people receiving the life-prolonging medication by the end of 2005.

WHO and UNAIDS have estimated that around 295,000 Zimbabweans living with HIV/AIDS are in need of antiretrovirals (ARVs) and the '3 by '5 target was set at having 145,000 people on treatment by the end of December.

According to Owen Mugurungi, head of the HIV/AIDS and TB unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, 17,500 people were taking ARVs in August 2005.

The WHO '3 by 5' campaign aimed to put three million people in the developing world on treatment by 2005.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews,

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