Zimbabwes HIV/Aids succes

Woza 5/2006

Zimbabwes Nationale Aids Råd (NAC), står for den meget omtalte AIDS-skat.

NAC har også ansvaret for gennemførelsen af HIV/Aids oplysningskampagner og import af Aids-medicin.

Zimbabwes succes har nu medført at flere lande i Afrika har udtrykt ønske om at Zimbabwe hjælper dem med at indføre lignende HIV/Aids programmer. Disse programmer har senest medført et fald i udbredelsen af HIV fra næsten 30 % for seks år siden til det seneste niveau på ca. 20 %. Og dette på trods af, at Zimbabwe har fået afvist ansøgninger til FN´s Globale fond til bekæmpelse af HIV/Aids, Malaria og TB, på grund af EU's og USA's sanktioner mod Zimbabwe.

På den baggrund udtalte Mark Dybul, fra USA's Presidential Emergency Fund for HIV/Aids, at han var imponeret over Zimbabwes succes med at få reduceret HIV/Aids forekomsten i Zimbabwe.

Fra Februar 2006 har CAPS Holding Ltd investeret i det zimbabwiske farmaceutiske firma Varichem, som nu bliver den anden nationale producent af Nevirapine og Lamivudine. Varichem skal producere til det nationale sundhedssystem til en konkurrencedygtig pris, som direktøren udtrykker det.

Men i Zimbabwes nuværende økonomiske krise, hvor adgangen til udenlandsk valuta er meget ustabil, indrømmer CAPS at de fortsat har store problemer med at skaffe nok råmaterialer til Varichems produktion. En del af CAPS og Varichems strategi går derfor ud på at eksportere HIV/Aids medicin for den måde at kunne tjene nok udenlandsk valuta til at finansiere den nationale produktion af Nevirapine og Lamivudine.

Internet links:

FN’s Globale Fond>>

Zimbabwe National Aids Council>>>

Zimbabwe running out of medicine, says report

Sapa-dpa, Harare, Zimbabwe
09 January 2008

At least 50% of medical drugs are out of stock in Zimbabwe's pharmacies because of critical shortages of foreign currency, making life harder for struggling Zimbabweans, it emerged on this week.

The few available drugs have shot up in price, putting them well out of the reach of most white-collar workers, the state-controlled Herald daily said.

Desperately needed drugs for conditions like HIV, diabetes, high blood pressure and epilepsy are now found in only about one pharmacy in four, the paper reported after a snap survey.

"We have applied for foreign currency and we are waiting for allocations. Most pharmacies can no longer afford to import drugs, so the few that are still importing tend to be expensive," Ishe Nkomo, the president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe, said.

The situation spells bad news for the one in seven Zimbabweans estimated to be living with HIV. A month-long prescription of Stalenev 30, a common antiretroviral drug, now costs Z$85-million, more than six times a teacher's salary, the Herald said.

More than 90 000 Zimbabweans are currently believed to be taking antiretrovirals.

Medicines against malaria, another of Zimbabwe's biggest killers, are also proving hard to come by. Simple anti-mosquito repellents that are smeared over the body now cost an average of Z$20-million per bottle where available.

Foreign currency inflows to Zimbabwe have dwindled over the past seven years. Critics of President Robert Mugabe's regime point to plummeting agricultural receipts, especially of prime forex earner tobacco, following the launch of a controversial land-reform programme before elections in 2000.

Mugabe and his ministers blame the forex crunch on Western sanctions.

Zimbabwe's health sector has been hard hit by the economic crisis.

Doctors and nurses have streamed out of the country in the search for better pay. Reports from former colonial power Britain have revealed that at least 16 000 nurses from Zimbabwe had been granted working visas in the last eight years.