ZIMBABWE: Global Fund to bankroll ARV scale-up

Zimbabwe says it hopes to more than double the number of people on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to 70,000 by the end of this year, with help from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Raymond Yekeye, of the National AIDS Council, confirmed that the government was expecting a grant of around US$60 million for the procurement of ARVs, and to support HIV voluntary counselling and testing programmes.

He told Agence France-Presse that although 32,000 people had been accessing ARVs since 2004, when the free rollout programme was launched, there were still an estimated 300,000 people in urgent need of the drugs.

Zimbabwe recently recorded a drop in HIV prevalence from 24.6 percent two years ago to 20.1 percent currently.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews,

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