MOZAMBIQUE: Mozambique Struggles to Rollout AIDS Drugs
Reuters (05.24.04) - Friday, May 28, 2004
Manoah Esipisu
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Serious shortages of staff and equipment are preventing Mozambique from launching a nationwide rollout of free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, Health Minister Francisco Songane said Monday. "It is simply impossible to imagine that we can distribute ARVs countrywide," he said. "We do not have the capacity to do that. We do not have the trained manpower or the infrastructure to handle such a massive program. It may be easy to say that we should import doctors and nurses and paramedics to do the job, but in the long-term that does not help the Mozambique people."
The country's priority is to build hospitals that specialize in HIV/AIDS care and prevention, said Songane. Mozambique is also in talks with Brazil and another country Songane did not name to build generic AIDS drug factories that could supply the 14-nation Southern African Development Community. The government has also approved the local company Farco Mozambique Pty. to do preliminary work on such a factory. That company is working with partners from China, India and Italy, said the minister.
Separately, at the sidelines of a ceremony opening a pediatric AIDS day hospital in Maputo, UNICEF's head in Mozambique said it is essential to include children in the treatment project. The current government pilot treats 8,000 adults. Of Mozambique's 30,000 children born with HIV annually, three- quarters die within two years, said Marie-Pierre Poirier.
Funding for Mozambique's AIDS program comes mostly from the World Bank, the Bill Clinton Foundation, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said Songane. The nation is also expecting additional funds from a US aid package for developing countries that is tied to good governance, he said.
Reuters (05.24.04) - Friday, May 28, 2004
Manoah Esipisu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serious shortages of staff and equipment are preventing Mozambique from launching a nationwide rollout of free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, Health Minister Francisco Songane said Monday. "It is simply impossible to imagine that we can distribute ARVs countrywide," he said. "We do not have the capacity to do that. We do not have the trained manpower or the infrastructure to handle such a massive program. It may be easy to say that we should import doctors and nurses and paramedics to do the job, but in the long-term that does not help the Mozambique people."
The country's priority is to build hospitals that specialize in HIV/AIDS care and prevention, said Songane. Mozambique is also in talks with Brazil and another country Songane did not name to build generic AIDS drug factories that could supply the 14-nation Southern African Development Community. The government has also approved the local company Farco Mozambique Pty. to do preliminary work on such a factory. That company is working with partners from China, India and Italy, said the minister.
Separately, at the sidelines of a ceremony opening a pediatric AIDS day hospital in Maputo, UNICEF's head in Mozambique said it is essential to include children in the treatment project. The current government pilot treats 8,000 adults. Of Mozambique's 30,000 children born with HIV annually, three- quarters die within two years, said Marie-Pierre Poirier.
Funding for Mozambique's AIDS program comes mostly from the World Bank, the Bill Clinton Foundation, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said Songane. The nation is also expecting additional funds from a US aid package for developing countries that is tied to good governance, he said.
posted by Dr Philippe Maslo at 09:01
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