Malawi plans to increase HIV positive people on the national life-prolonging anti-retroviral (ARVs) programme from 270, 000 to 500, and 000 in 2010, Vice-President Joyce Banda has disclosed.
Banda, whose office encompasses the Department of Nutrition and HIV/AIDS in the Office of the President and Cabinet, said to reach this feat Malawi plans to establish its own ARV factory because currently all ARVs are imported under the Global Fund on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “Government is considering opening an anti-retroviral drug factory so that people access the medication easily,” she said.
The National Association of People Living With HIV and AIDS in Malawi (NAPHAM) has welcomed the news because, according to its Executive Director Amanda Manjolo, many people with HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS, in Malawi were dying prematurely because they could not access the life-saving drugs. Manjolo also said the news was coming at the right time when contributions to the Global Fund were dwindling with major donors to the Fund – like the US government – cutting down their contributions. “We don’t need to depend on others for ARVs because this is a matter of life and death,” she said.
According to the National AIDS Commission, at least 14 per cent of Malawi’s population of 13.1 million people has HIV. The first case of HIV was discovered in Malawi in 1995. Malawi used to follow a policy of putting HIV positive people on ARVs whose CD4 count (viral load) has dropped below 350. But the country has recently adopted a World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline that recommends putting people on ARVs even when their CD4 is above 350. “We really appreciate the new guidelines because people were dying unnecessarily because they were not put on ARVs on time,” said Manjolo. But since virtually almost everyone diagnosed with HIV must be put on the life-prolonging drugs the budget of procuring drugs will greatly increase, according to Secretary for Nutrition and HIV/AIDS in the Office of the President and Cabinet Dr. Mary Shawa.
“We have to find the money as a country,” she said.
Dr. Shawa was, however, upbeat that Malawi was winning the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS since there has been a marked reduction of new infections which has led to the national prevalence rate to stabilise at 14 per cent. “The number of people dying from the disease has also greatly reduced because with ARVs no one need to die,” she said, adding that the number of AIDS fatalities will dwindle further with the increase of people on the national ARV programme.-AP
by: Nyasa Times, 15 February 2010
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