Zimbabwe govt seeks to increase HIV/AIDS treatment

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe is hopeful that international
donors will provide cash to increase the number of HIV/AIDS
patients on life prolonging anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, Health
Minister David Parirenyatwa said on Wednesday.

Health officials, speaking on the eve of World AIDS Day,
said an estimated 21,000 people were on ARVs in the country
while latest figures showed that 1.61 million are living with

HIV/AIDS.

A majority of the patients are being treated in government
hospitals where prices are cheaper, the officials said.

“We hope that we will get more people, the donors
especially, to assist in putting more people on ARVs,”
Parirenyatwa said at the launch of the national HIV/AIDS
estimates for 2005.

“I am hoping that come next year, with the global fund
money coming through, we should have more people on treatment,”
he said but offered no further details.

The Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria attracts, manages and disburses cash to fight the
diseases – top killers in Africa.

The health officials said some 289,000 people were in need
of ARVs in the southern African country and although a local
company had started manufacturing generic ARVs, this was not
enough to meet demand by HIV/AIDS patients.

Zimbabwe’s HIV infection rate has fallen to around 20
percent of the population from 25 percent five years ago,
apparently due to more condom use and fewer sex partners, a
rare piece of encouraging news for a country battling its worst
economic and political crisis since independence in 1980.

But Zimbabwe, with a population of some 12.5 million, still
has among the world’s highest HIV prevalence rates.

Zimbabwe is expected to record 134,993 new HIV infections
and 142,330 AIDS cases by the end of this year while another
139,950 people are expected to die from the disease. Some 57
percent of infections and deaths are women.