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245 000 Malawians to get ARVs
05/10/2007 15:11 - (SA)
Blantyre - Aids-blighted Malawi wants to more than double the number of people receiving free anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to 245 000 by 2010, says Health Minister Marjorie Ngaunje.
Ngaunje said: "With currently 115 000 people on ARVs, the government aims at increasing this number to 245 000 by the year 2010."
Though it was still a taboo subject in the conservative landlocked country, at least 930 000 Malawians were living with HIV/Aids, where the prevalence rate is 14%, according to the United Nations Aids and official figures.
The conference, organised by international medical and humanitarian aid organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), was to discuss how to deal with acute shortages of health workers.
170 000 Malawians 'in need of ARVs'
Representatives of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, the main sponsors of the country's economic reforms, were also attending the one-day meeting.
Saying HIV/Aids was a major public health problem in the southern African nation, Ngaunje said: "Approximately 170 000 Malawians are believed to be in urgent need of ARVs today."
She said the scale-up programme had been hit by "a persistent crisis over the past decade, which is largely caused by acute shortage of professional health workers in the public health sector".
Ngaunje said the poor southern African country, with funding from the Global Fund against Aids, malaria and tuberculosis, had recruited 5 000 health surveillance health assistants to increase access to treatment and to compensate for professional health workers.
Malawi, with a population of 12 million, had 150 doctors on the state payroll, according to a recent figure by the health ministry.
- AFP
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