|
Quest for Aids cure fuels illegal drug boom
21/11/2000 17:43 - (SA)
Brian Ligomeka
Blantyre - Many Malawians living with
HIV/Aids are forced to rely on illegal drugs in a bid
to treat opportunistic illnesses, ease suffering and
prolong their lives.
Some of the drugs that have flooded the country's black market have a potentially negative health impact.
A lack of recognised Aids drugs in government-run
hospitals, clinics and health centres, coupled with
their high costs in the market place is driving many
Malawians into the arms of unlicensed drug peddlers
offering dubious cures.
In a poverty stricken country where one million out of
a population of 10 million carry the virus, people
have been flocking to buy fake, illegal and even
expired drugs from peddlers, ignoring warnings from
the health ministry and police.
Attempts by authorities to crack down on the illegal
sales of such drugs have so far proven unsuccessful.
A drug doing particularly well on the black market
goes by the name of Conthy Capsule, a traditional
Chinese medicine reported to have been developed by
the Beijing Jinjiang Xini Pharmaceutical Company.
Conthy capsules are also stocked secretly by some
privately owned hospitals and clinics in Malawi's
commercial city, Blantyre and the capital Lilongwe, a
packet of 20 costing up to R600 on the black market.
The drug is not on the approved list of the Central
Government Medical Stores and not registered with
Malawi's Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board.
Dr Charles Nyirenda, a medical practitioner in
Blantyre said the drug is used mainly to boost
immunity.
"It is not treated as a drug in China but as a
vitamin," he said.
A letter accompanying the capsules claims: "The
results of pharmacological experiments and clinical
trials showed that Conthy capsules could kill Human
Immuno-deficiency virus effectively and raise the
number of cells rapidly. It has been used to prevent
and treat Aids in the USA, Africa, South East Asia and
many other hospital in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces of
China.
"The clinical trial proved that it was more effective
in treating and preventing carcinoma of stomach,
hepatocarcinoma, and mastocarcinoma. It may be used
simultaneously with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and
surgical operation," says the leaflet.
Another drug which Malawians believe alleviates the
symptoms of some of the opportunistic infections such
as diarrhoea and tuberculosis, that appear in the
early stages of Aids is the combination of Rifampicin
and IHN, which are normally used to cure tuberculosis.
The preparation is variously known as Rifina and
Bazukah. But although the capsule cost as little as R1
each, Dr Felix Salaniponi, Tuberculosis Programme
Manager in Malawi, said they are downright dangerous.
He said that the use these drugs by those carrying HIV
and those suffering from sexually transmitted diseases
has led to the emergence of a dangerous new strain of
multi-drug resistant TB.
"Six patients diagnosed in the past twelve months have
developed a multi-drug resistant-type of tuberculosis.
Research has shown that the patients with this type of
TB at one time or the other used Rifinah in an attempt
to cure HIV/Aids related illnesses or some sexually
transmitted diseases," said Dr Saliniponi.
Aids drugs that are popular in industrialised countries such as AZT which has Malawian government approval and can be found in some private hospitals are so expensive that they are virtually inaccessible
to the masses, 80 percent of whom live on less than a
dollar a day.
The government has appealed to international donor
agencies and multinational drug companies to make
available cheaper therapies.
In the meantime, the Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons
Board has stepped up efforts to inform people about
the dangers of buying medicines from unlicensed
dealers.
"The illegal sale of drugs is boosted by people who buy
from unlicensed peddlers and the street vendors and
that is why we will be tackling from this angle,"
rather than merely arresting the peddlers, board
deputy registrar Wyn Chalira said.
But the quest for Aids cures is unceasing - many cross
over to neighbouring Zambia to buy the African Potato,
another claimed Aids cure.
Just three years ago, Blantyre and Lilongwe were
flooded by a drug called Mariandina smuggled from
Uganda.
And five years ago, over two million Malawians visited
a witchdoctor called Chisupe who claimed that the
spirits of his ancestors had revealed to him names of
herbs that could cure Aids.
Malawians still visit witchdoctors and herbalists who
claim that they have cures. Critics say such an
environment thrives because the government has not
made therapies available in many government hospitals
- or subsidised the costs of those that are available
in private clinics.
Meanwhile government has said people can only get HIV
drug cocktail from the country largest health
institution, the Queen Elizabeth central Hospital
(QECH).
The hospital's medical director Dr Biziwick Mwale says
that since the drugs were introduced at the hospital
in may about 20 people come to procure them at the
price of R1 000.
According to Dr Mwale the cocktail comprises of 3TC
and AZT and is taken on daily basis to prolong life.
Its commercial value in Malawi is R2 500.
Government pushed for the availability of the Aids
cocktail after Speaker of Parliament Sam Mpasu mid
this year told the press that 29 parliamentarians had
died of HIV/Aids related illnesses. - Media24 African News Service
- News24
|
News
HIV/Aids Special Report
