E-DRUG: Zambia Considers Importing Low-Cost AIDS Drugs
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[crossposted from AFRO-NETS with thanks; NN]
Zambian government officials on Wednesday met with
representatives from the World Health Organization to discuss
ways for the country to import cheaper AIDS drugs, Reuters
reports. The Zambian National HIV/AIDS Council and Central Board
of Health met with the WHO to "map out policies to curb the
spread" of HIV through treatment. Currently, only private hospitals
and chemists sell antiretroviral drugs, but they "charge prices that
ordinary Zambians ... cannot afford." The Zambian government has
"not yet officially allowed" antiretrovirals to be purchased for its
medical centers because of the drugs' high cost and "the limited
ability of the state health sector" to dispense the drugs and monitor
"complicated" treatment regimes. Dr. Golden Bola, director-general
of the HIV/AIDS council, said, "We have reached a point where we
have to seriously put in place measures that will protect both the
infected and affected. Sitting back and waiting for Zambians to
reform or change their behavior is just not helping, the disease is
spreading" (Nampito, Reuters, 8/8). In April, GlaxoS- mithKline,
Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck & Co. offered to "slash" the prices
of antiretroviral drugs used in Zambia if the country agrees to keep
the drugs from being smuggled out to other nations (Kaiser Daily
HIV/AIDS Report, 4/19).
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