KAMPALA, 1 December 2009 (IPlusNews):
I takt med finanskrisen forsvinder støttekronerne til antiretrovirale programmer i Uganda.
(Det er den behandling, som tilbydes hiv-smittede for at de ikke skal udvikle aids i udbrud).
As donors tighten their belts in the global recession, health experts in Uganda worry that the national antiretroviral (ARV) programme, which is almost entirely dependent on foreign aid, will be unable to keep providing the life-prolonging drugs.
Uganda is only able to provide ARVs to 57 percent of the 240.000 people who require them, and the number is growing. – We require up to 70 million US dollar every year to treat our targeted patients, said Zainabu Akol, head of the HIV/AIDS programme in the ministry of health.
Funding shrinking
PEPFAR (the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) recently announced that funding for ARV programmes would not be increased.
– We now have a flat budget for Uganda, since the first phase of PEPFAR ended in 2008. This fiscal year we are going to commit 285 million dollar for our programmes of sustainability, prevention, care and treatment, said Lynne McDermott, PEPFAR’s communication officer in the capital, Kampala.
Some local partners too would not be adding to the number of patients they were treating. – The US has been the main funder of HIV/AIDS in Uganda, so what is going to happen to new infected persons? asked Chris Baryomunsi, a member of parliament on the house select committee on HIV and related matters.
In 2008 the government allocated more than 30 million dollar to purchase ARVs, but the money was diverted to pay health ministry staff. An ARV manufacturing plant, opened in 2008 to cut the costs of AIDS drugs, has so far not made any significant contribution to ARV provision.
AIDS activists are concerned that funding woes will make it impossible for Uganda to achieve universal access to treatment, or giving drugs to at least 80 percent of people who need them.
Læs videre på http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87271
