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Drug shortage foils Aids fight
28/05/2004 11:21 - (SA)
Cape Town - A shortage of anti-Aids drugs is hampering a state-run programme to treat five million South Africans suffering from HIV and Aids, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Thursday.
"Because the tender process for ARVs (anti-retrovirals) is quite complex and lengthy, interim arrangements were made for provinces to purchase supplies of the drugs but (they) have not been entirely problem-free," she said in Cape Town.
"The range of generic drugs currently available is limited and this means that prices have been relatively high" she said, adding that long gaps between order and delivery had been a further problem.
South Africa has one the highest Aids rates in the world with UNAids estimating that 5.3 million people, or one in nine, are infected.
The government has come under fire in the past for failing to deal with the pandemic, but it approved a national roll-out last November and pledged to make free anti-Aids drugs available at state hospitals.
The programme kicked off early this year.
Tshabalala-Msimang said ARVs for children "are in particularly short supply and provinces are experiencing problems in accessing them. As a result provincial health departments have taken a cautious approach to initiating treatment."
President Thabo Mbeki promised in his state of the nation address last week that more than 50 000 Aids sufferers would have access to free drugs by March next year as part of a national treatment plan.
The government had pledged to give free drugs to 50 000 people by the end of March this year but failed to deliver.
- AFP
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