ZIMBABWE: Another ARV shortage looms

HARARE, 18 October 2006 (PlusNews) - The government has been forced to hold off putting more HIV-positive people on its treatment programme, amid reports that anti-AIDS drug supplies could run out by December.

"Our problem is that, currently, we cannot put more people on the programme, but we have enough drugs for those already on the ARV [antiretroviral] programme," health minister Dr David Parirenyatwa told IRIN PlusNews.

According to local newspapers, health officials had revealed that the ongoing shortages of ARVs were worsening.

Zimbabwe is going through a severe economic crisis with serious fuel and food shortages due to recurring droughts and the government's fast-track land redistribution programme, which have disrupted agricultural production and slashed export earnings.

The government's response to the AIDS crisis was to declare a state of emergency in 2002, allowing cheaper generic drugs to be imported as well as locally made under World Trade Organisation rules. But Varichem, the local generic drug manufacturer, has been hamstrung by the scarcity of foreign currency to import raw materials to make ARVs.

The country has one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection.

Activists have warned that the lives of the estimated 310,000 people in need of the drugs are at risk. Mary Sandasi, executive director of the Women and AIDS Support Network (WASN), said the government was "sentencing to death" thousands of people living with the virus by restricting the numbers of people who could receive the medication.

"We know that failure to get the drugs means death and nothing else. I can tell you many people are dying now because they have stopped taking ARVs or they never had access to them in the first place," she added.

About 42,000 people are receiving the drugs from state facilities.

Members of the Zimbabwe National Network for People Living with HIV and AIDS (ZNPP+) hope to meet the minister this week to raise their concerns about the shortages, said chairman Benjamin Mazhindu.

Frustrated and angry over inadequate planning to prevent such emergencies, HIV-positive Zimbabweans have threatened to protest if the government fails to provide them with their medication.

"When the political leadership can get money to buy new cars for the army and police chiefs, I wonder if they care about people like us," said ZNNP+ member Collin Munazvo. "That money should be used to buy ARVs for thousands of people dying a painful death because of shortage of drugs."

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Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews,

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