Poverty No Obstacle to AIDS Treatment, Experts Say

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Poverty No Obstacle to AIDS Treatment, Experts Say

June 23, 2001 07:35 AM ET

By Richwine

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Health and U.N. officials said on Friday they have

evidence the latest AIDS treatments can work in impoverished villages,

contradicting statements by large drug companies that even free

anti-retroviral drugs would not help where medical support is lacking.

" Anti-retroviral therapy for poor countries is not a dream any longer. It's

an emerging reality, " said Piot, executive director of UNAIDS.

Piot spoke ahead of a major U.N. conference at which officials will discuss

global funding to buy medicines for poor countries including the

anti-retroviral drugs that can add years to the lives of HIV-infected

people. The conference is set to open on Monday.

A small clinic in rural Haiti has shown obstacles can be overcome, said Joia

Mukherjee, clinical director for a Harvard Medical School project that runs

the program.

With no job opportunities, people in the area live off subsistence farming,

and have no electricity or running water. The clinic has a generator that

" sometimes " provides electricity, she said. Still, patients walk up to seven

hours

to the clinic and wait overnight to receive aid. Seventy people have been

treated

with anti-retroviral therapy, and all have seen their health improve, Mukherjee

said.

" Our patients have gained weight, gone back to their farming, gone back to

being able to take care of their children ... It's more or less a miracle, "

Mukherjee said.

FREE TREATMENT CITED

On a larger scale, Brazil has provided a dramatic example of how drug

treatment can slow the spread of AIDS. A decade ago, world agencies

projected 1.2 million Brazilians would be infected with HIV. Today, the

number is 600,000. The key has been early intervention with local production of

generic medicines provided to patients at no charge and doctor training for

simple

clinics, said o Teixeira, coordinator of Brazil's AIDS program, which

provides free treatment to anyone infected.

Drug resistance can occur when patients fail to take drugs properly. But the

rates are no greater than in wealthier nations, Teixeira said.

" Sure we have problems ... but the message is it's possible even in a

developing country and in very poor settings, " Teixeira said.

About 36 million people worldwide are estimated to have the AIDS virus, and

25 million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, where medical resources are

scarce.

Mugyenyi, director of the Joint Clinical Research Center in Uganda, where

aggressive programs have cut HIV prevalence in adults, predicted that > his

African neighbors would find ways to get the drugs to patients who are

desperate for treatment.

" Please don't ask any African patient if he wants treatment, and don't ask

him whether he will comply with it, " Mugyenyi said. " It is a big, big yes.

Anti-retroviral therapy can be used in Africa

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