Zimbabwe to provide free antiretroviral drugs
Government hospitals in Zimbabwe's two major urban centres, Harare and
Bulawayo, will start providing free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs next month, in
partnership with UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the local
health ministry.
The programme, unveiled [in February], is part of WHO's "Three by
Five" vision of providing three million people globally with access to ARVs
by 2005.
"The Three by Five programme is part of our efforts in assisting the
Zimbabwean government with the provision of antiretrovirals," WHO country
representative to Zimbabwe, Everisto Njelesani, was quoted as saying.
He added that health personnel were already being trained in the
administration of ARVs, and the drugs would be rolled out to other parts
of Zimbabwe as the scheme expanded.
However, Zimbabwean AIDS activists said there were significant challenges
to implementing the programme.
Lynde Francis, founder of The Centre, an organisation providing treatment,
care and counselling for people living with HIV/AIDS, said the first
requirement, before making ARVs available, was to revive the collapsing
health sector - undermined by a lack of funding, low staff morale and the
exodus of skilled staff to other countries.
"Our health delivery system is in such a shambles that drugs for some
opportunistic infections cannot be found," Francis said. "The need to
administer ARVs would be reduced drastically if areas like the prevention
of mother-to-child transmission were given attention," she pointed out.
"The [implementation] committee is full of learned professors and
doctors,
but there are no women or people living with HIV - how can they be
passionate about implementing the Three by Five programme if they are not
affected by AIDS?" asked Francis, who has lived with the virus for 18
years.
Believe Dhliwayo, coordinator of Zimbabwe Activists on HIV and AIDS,
questioned the urban focus of the programme.
"Providing treatment to urbanites first, ahead of rural dwellers, raises
issues of human rights," charged Dhliwayo. "The people in rural areas,
where there are vulnerable orphans being looked after by grandparents,
should be given first priority."
He noted that there was an urgent need to educate both patients and health
care workers about ARVs - which are extremely powerful drugs and require a
strict regimen - before they were administered.
"The implementation of the Three by Five initiative should be
accompanied
by an information blitz, because there is a lot of vital information that
patients and health providers should have. Treatment literature on issues
like adherance and nutrition should be a priority before everything else,"
said Dhliwayo.
An estimated 24.6 percent of Zimbabweans are HIV-positive, but very few
are able to afford the ARV medication that could extend their lives. - IRIN
More information:
[This Item may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003]
www.irinnews.org
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