Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 12/1/2003

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U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network

CONTENT:

1 - ETHIOPIA: Feature - Tackling HIV/AIDS

2 - GLOBAL: WHO unveils ARV treatment plan

3 - SOMALIA: UNICEF urges leaders to join fight against HIV/AIDS

4 - SOUTH AFRICA: Mixed response to AIDS door-to-door campaign

5 - SOUTHERN AFRICA: HIV/AIDS has shaped the crisis in the region

6 - SWAZILAND: Resisting condom use as AIDS deaths soar

7 - UGANDA: New deadline for free anti-retrovirals

1 - ETHIOPIA: Feature - Tackling HIV/AIDS

DILLA, 1 December (PLUSNEWS) - As a mother leans over to breastfeed her

hungry newborn baby, doctors look on anxiously knowing she could infect

her child with the HIV virus.

It is a dilemma medics in rural Ethiopia say they are facing almost daily,

as the country launches a campaign to prevent mothers infecting their

children with the virus.

The US-funded programme attempts to prevent transmission of HIV during the

birth of a baby, through provision of the one-dose drug Neviropine.

But some doctors argue the countrywide scheme is flawed because it does

not protect mothers, and ultimately children too can become infected

through breastfeeding.

“There is still a one-in-five chance that HIV can be passed on through

breastfeeding,” says Dr Haile Gilcha, head of the anti-AIDS programme in

Dilla, some 500 km south of Addis Ababa.

And he says although the baby may survive, the chances are it will be

orphaned in a couple of years because anti-AIDS drugs are not being

provided to save the mothers.

While Dr Haile says most mothers are pleased to be involved he says the

risks are still great. He wants to see mothers given anti-retroviral drugs

to ensure their future survival.

US-FUNDED PROJECT

Mother to child infection is the second highest cause of the spread of the

virus in Ethiopia. Some 60,000 children each year become infected with

HIV.

Four medical centres across the country have been chosen for the US $5

million project – which is being run by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

It aims to provide mothers and children with Neviropine to reduce the risk

of HIV. It is administered to the mother just before she gives birth, and

then to her newly-born child.

The funding is part of US President W Bush’s five year US $15

billion global fight against the pandemic that is sweeping Africa.

Some 2.2 million people – 200,000 of them are children - are living with

the virus in Ethiopia making it the third largest infected population in

the world.

The Ethiopian government – whose annual health budget for the entire

country is in the region of US $100 million – simply cannot afford to buy

the much-needed drugs.

But around US $200 million is currently being earmarked for Ethiopia to

help fight AIDS – and government officials are keen to expand the use of

anti-retroviral drugs.

Using the mother to child treatment centres would be a logical place to

start to distribution of anti-retroviral drugs, say doctors involved in

the programme.

Pregnant women receive counselling on the risks and dangers before they

have an HIV test at the hospital in Dilla.

Since the programme began in May - more than 300 mothers have come forward

for counselling and testing - about 10 percent have tested positive.

CUTTING TRANSMISSION RATES

The UNICEF programme aims to cut transmission rates by a quarter within

five years. Without it, 80 percent of children infected with HIV would be

dead before they reach two.

Bjorn Ljungqvist, head of UNICEF in Ethiopia, argues that preventing

breastfeeding is not a viable option to help mums in Dilla – whether or

not they are infected.

“There is even greater risk if the mother doesn’t breastfeed so you have

to find a way to balance these risks,” he adds. “In Ethiopia there is

probably a higher risk than anywhere.”

“We are afraid that if people think breastfeeding can transmit HIV/AIDS

there will be a public scare,” Ljungqvist said from his office in Addis

Ababa. “And that would have a tremendous impact on child survival and

health in this country, and that is what we are afraid of.”

He says the UN is looking at anti-retroviral drugs as additional funding

comes in or as life-saving drugs get cheaper, but admits dilemmas like

those in Dilla must be faced.

“We have to find all kinds of ways to contain this terrible threat to

children. We face dilemmas in so many cases, who do you choose, where do

you put your money?,” he asks. “It is a pure issue of affordability.”

For Dr Haile, working at the frontline, explaining the economics to

mothers is daunting and depressing.

“The people here are dying because they are poor, that is the problem. The

support being given is not enough,” he says. “This is a cheap solution but

it will prove expensive.”

[ENDS]

2 - GLOBAL: WHO unveils ARV treatment plan

NAIROBI, 1 December (PLUSNEWS) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) on

Monday unveiled a concrete plan to treat three million AIDS patients with

antiretrovirals by 2005 ( " 3 by 5 " ).

Dr Jack Chow, WHO Assistant Director General, said the figure of three

million, which was half the number of people who needed ARVs, was " a

preliminary response " to the global health emergency.

" The ultimate goal is universal access, " he told a news conference in

Nairobi.

" We know from experience that the availability of treatment encourages

people to declare their HIV status and receive counselling, " said Dr o

Teixeira, Director of the HIV/AIDS Department in WHO. " We also know that

the availability of treatment reduces stigma for people living with AIDS. "

The " counter campaign " against the virus will focus on countries with the

largest numbers of people living with HIV, and will be implemented by

national governments, which are being assisted by " 3 by 5 " emergency teams

to strengthen their health systems.

WHO is recommending that countries provide the drugs free of cost.

Kenya, Burkina Faso, Malawi and Zambia are all setting up national

treatment delivery systems, according to targets set by the 3 by 5

strategy, and 30 other countries were expected to do likewise within next

six months, Chow told reporters. Teams had done preparatory work in

Ukraine, India and Sudan, working with governments to identify and help

remove obstacles to providing the drugs.

A key component of the strategy is the training of tens of thousands of

community health workers to treat and monitor patients.

" The centre of attention is the people who need the treatment urgently now

and the national health systems that must provide it, " said Chow.

Currently a year's supply of patented ARVs costs about US $700 per person,

while generic versions cost US $270. Chow said prices of generics were

expected to fall to US $150 by 2005.

[ENDS]

3 - SOMALIA: UNICEF urges leaders to join fight against HIV/AIDS

NAIROBI, 1 December (PLUSNEWS) - On the occasion of World AIDS Day, the UN

Children's Fund (UNICEF) has appealed to Somali leaders to join the fight

against the disease and support the youth in tackling it, according to a

press statement issued by the agency on Monday.

" Leaders must rise to this huge challenge and mobilise the youth, not to

fight political battles, but to spearhead the fight for their own

survival, and that of Somalia against AIDS, " the statement quoted Jesper

Morch, the UNICEF representative for Somalia, as saying.

Unlike many of the surrounding countries, in Somalia the prevalence of

HIV/AIDS had remained relatively low, thereby providing a setting in which

an effective, comprehensive and nationwide prevention programme - if put

in place now - could achieve a reduction in the number of future HIV

infections, said the statement.

Addressing a meeting of community leaders in the self-declared autonomous

region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, Morch said: " AIDS is an issue on

which there can be no disagreement. It knows no clan, no faction nor

political allegiance. "

World AIDS Day was also marked in other parts of Somalia. In the capital,

Mogadishu, a ceremony was held at the Sahafi Hotel, which was attended by

politicians, traditional elders, religious leaders, representatives of

civil society and women's groups and the UN.

All the leaders present committed themselves to the fight against the

pandemic, Dr Muhammad Mahmud Ali Fuje of the World Health Organisation

told PlusNews.

" This is a breakthrough, " he stressed. " It is the first time that

religious leaders have come out in public to support the fight against the

disease. This shows that Somalis are beginning to take this seriously. "

[ENDS]

4 - SOUTH AFRICA: Mixed response to AIDS door-to-door campaign

JOHANNESBURG, 1 December (PLUSNEWS) - The andra Community Centre in

Johannesburg was buzzing with activity, as a group of young people milled

around the parking lot, dressed in white T-shirts with bold AIDS logos and

bags slung across their shoulders.

It was Friday - the fifth day of the Gauteng Province's door-to-door

anti-AIDS campaign, and only two more days were left before it was wrapped

up on World AIDS Day.

The campaign has been conducted to raise awareness, " strengthen support

for HIV-positive people and also focuses on the needs of orphans and

vulnerable children " , a provincial statement said. Last year 10,000

volunteers visited homes and provided information and education to 4.6

million people throughout the province, the country's economic heartland.

Zechariah Ndlovu, a young man dressed in the regulation white T-shirt and

black jeans, was at the centre " first thing this morning " . He and seven

others were waiting for their group leader to lead them to Ward 75 - an

infamous part of andra township, populated mainly by male hostel

dwellers.

andra (), is one of South Africa's oldest townships, located in

close proximity to the posh northern suburbs of Johannesburg.

After seeing a good friend die of AIDS-related causes last year, Ndlovu

decided to join the campaign and teach others about the disease. " I see

myself as a foot soldier in this war against this deadly disease. I was

also unemployed, so I decided to do something that would keep me busy, " he

told PlusNews.

The biggest problems in , according to Ndlovu, are poverty and

HIV/AIDS. These are issues that members of the 'Friends for Life' NGO

grapple with daily - not just on World AIDS Day.

Friends for Life provides voluntary counselling and testing (VCT)

services, home-based and orphan care; runs education and awareness

projects, and a support group for HIV-positive residents.

Partnerships with the AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign, and the

AIDS Consortium, an umbrella body for various NGOs, have seen Friends for

Life joining the push for a national treatment plan.

Now that the government has agreed to the rollout of antiretroviral (ARV)

drugs, the NGO is hoping to be at the forefront of community efforts to

educate people about treatment.

Many of the NGO's staffers are also involved with the door-to-door

project.

" We have to be part of it - this is a golden opportunity for us to educate

people. Now that they are hearing that the ARVs are here, we need to push

for treatment literacy, " said Vernon Khuzwayo, a Friends for Life

counsellor.

Khuzwayo has been in charge of the Ward 75 group since the campaign kicked

off last week. " The problem is, there is a lot of talk now about ARVs and

most of it is a whole lot of rubbish. "

" Yesterday we met two HIV-positive guys from the hostel who told us that

their inyanga (traditional healer) had warned them against taking the

'poisonous' drugs that government was going to provide, as they would lose

their manhood, " he said.

Counselling coordinator Mantwa Mohlala has heard worse: " The things people

go around spreading are quite shocking. It's quite difficult trying to set

the record straight, because when people are desperate they will believe

anything. "

Or sometimes they don't want to hear at all. As one group walked out of

the centre's gates, a car stopped in the road and a formally dressed local

pastor got out, demanding to speak to " someone responsible " .

He said he was " fed up with these young kids speaking about things they

know nothing about " and was going to tell people not to listen to them.

" In as whole, there is still a lot of stigma. People think this

campaign is a waste of time and we are just having a nice time. They see a

young guy like me and think I'm just fooling around. They don't realise

that all of us are directly affected - positive or not positive, " noted

Akanye Fungeni, another volunteer.

Twenty-nine-year-old Limakatso [last name withheld at her request] is

HIV-positive, and has been living with the virus for the past 13 years

without taking anti-AIDS drugs. She is employed by 'Friends for Life' as

an HIV/AIDS educator.

" I've lived with this virus for a long time and I'm tired of living with

it alone. Who knows, once I start taking treatment, maybe I can live

[even] longer and find a husband in Bez Valley, " she said. Bez Valley, a

suburb in the east of Johannesburg, has been Limakatso's territory for the

week.

However, with a CD4 cell (cells that orchestrate the body's immune

response) count of about 300, Limakatso will not be eligible for the

government's ARV rollout - one of the selection criteria is a CD4 count

lower than 200.

She is also ambivalent about starting treatment. " I'm not sure. Sometimes,

when I get really sick, I think it's time, but then there are times like

now, when I'm so busy and healthy, I don't have time to be depressed about

it. But it still hurts me that I won't qualify, " she said.

Although she has not yet openly disclosed her status, she is more

comfortable telling people on " a one-to-one basis " . She hopes to show

people that HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence, but has been getting an

indifferent response from the mostly white Bez Valley residents.

" They either tell me to go away or call their maids to come and listen to

me, as if HIV/AIDS does not affect them, " Limakatso said.

" But my first day, when I told this old white lady I was positive, she

said to me 'Oh you poor thing'. Then she asked me if I had any children

and whether I was going to have any. That was so difficult because my

heart gets so sore each time I think about it. "

It's a catch-22 situation for Limakatso and many HIV-positive women. They

want to have children, but do not want to have their child infected.

HIV can be transmitted from an HIV-positive woman to her child either

during pregnancy, or during labour and delivery, or by breast-feeding. But

the risk of transmission can be reduced in HIV-positive women who receive

ARV therapy and appropriate medical care during pregnancy.

Limakatso has made her decision. " I don't want to have children like me,

and I don't think my body will cope. Maybe I will adopt. "

Another frustrating part of the campaign has been trying to make people

see her, and all people living with HIV/AIDS, as " the same as everybody

else " .

" Even after all these World AIDS Days and door-to-doors, they find it

difficult to think that Limakatso is still the same. I also want to be

married and have a happy family. I also want love in my life, " she said.

This was why it was so important to reinforce the issue of safer sex -

even when people became HIV-positive.

" I'm a pensioner and people get embarrassed when I talk to them about sex.

But the fact is, PWAs (people living with AIDS) must also have sex - it's

a natural act, so we cannot keep quiet about it, " commented Lulu Mantshu,

a former nursing sister and now the NGO's 67-year old home-based care

supervisor.

It was lunchtime and a few weary volunteers like Mantwa Mohlala had

returned to the Friends for Life offices. " I would rather spend my time

doing this [awareness-raising and education] because you see some small

changes, " she said.

Nevertheless, the progress made by the government and NGOs in HIV/AIDS

prevention was still not enough, according to Fungweni and Khuzwayo. This,

Khuzwayo pointed out, was brought home to him during the week's daily

visits to the hostels in Ward 75.

" These are old traditional Zulu men who don't want to change. When we give

them condoms and leaflets, they say they would rather keep the paper and

not the condoms.

" We used to think it was funny but as each day passes, I get more

worried, " he said.

[ENDS]

5 - SOUTHERN AFRICA: HIV/AIDS has shaped the crisis in the region

JOHANNESBURG, 1 December (PLUSNEWS) - The impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic

on Southern Africa has shaped the current humanitarian crisis in the

region, where more than 6 million people will need food aid to survive the

beginning of next year.

The UN has warned that this part of the world faces the triple threat of

food insecurity, weakened government capacity and the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Mark Sterling, UNAIDS intercountry team leader in the region, told

PlusNews on World AIDS Day that " HIV tends to slip off the agenda in terms

of public attention and decision-making around food security " .

Yet food security and HIV/AIDS are inextricably linked in this, the worst

HIV/AIDS-affected area in the world, according to the latest UNAIDS AIDS

Epidemic Update.

A UN policy document says a " new kind of humanitarian crisis is emerging

in Southern Africa " .

" It is a deadly triad consisting of a lethal epidemic, deepening food

insecurity and a hollowing out of government capacity. The HIV epidemic,

having reached hitherto unimaginable prevalence levels - bordering on 40

percent of adults in some countries - is now entering the phase of massive

death from AIDS, " the UN said.

The policy document notes that " 22,000 people are dying every week in the

mainland SADC [southern African Development Community] region " .

" Fuelled in part by impoverishment and lack of essential public services,

the epidemic continues to worsen, bringing in its wake new patterns of

food insecurity, destitution and vulnerability, " the UN added.

Southern Africa was plunged into a humanitarian crisis in 2002, when food

shortages affected 14 million people in six countries - Lesotho,

Swaziland, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Aid agencies said the

shortages were brought on by adverse weather conditions and governance

failures, worsened by the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

The UN policy document notes that " AIDS undercuts the resilience which

households and communities draw upon to cope during periods of difficulty.

In the face of an external shock, poor households respond with a variety

of strategies, including altering income-generating activities and

consumption patterns, as well as calling upon family and community

support " .

" But AIDS strikes at productive adults, the asset most likely to help

during a crisis. Infected adults may be unable to work. The burden of care

increases, in both financial and social terms... The impoverishment that

results in all households as they use assets and savings during a crisis

is amplified in HIV/AIDS-affected households, " the UN said.

In such households, food security is undermined. And when adults die, the

household may be headed by a child or elderly adult, " or may even

disintegrate completely " .

HIV/AIDS MAY ERODE RECENT GAINS

Aid efforts by UN agencies, governments and NGOs averted a humanitarian

catastrophe in 2002, and while some of the six affected countries have

managed to stage a remarkable short-term recovery, there is concern that

the long-term impact of HIV/AIDS could erode recent gains.

" Faced with the challenge of needing to do more to preserve lives and

livelihoods, governments of the region are finding their principal asset -

human resources in their institutions - is being eroded at an increasing

rate [by HIV/AIDS], " the UN observed.

The current crisis was the continuation of a " vicious cycle " .

In a setting of poverty and chronic hunger, the UN said, any external

shock could undermine a household's ability to deal with pre-existing

challenges. " Whether it is a poor family hit by an HIV infection, or an

already HIV-affected household hit by drought, the addition of AIDS to the

mix of development challenges increases the chances that households will

simply not have the means to escape poverty and benefit from development

opportunities. "

The bottom line, Sterling told IRIN, was that " concerns around poverty and

AIDS need to be made real in all of our discourse " .

HIV/AIDS was both a cause and an effect of food insecurity, as families

weakened by HIV/AIDS were usually unable to work and produce either crops

or income to sustain themselves. It also meant that children were often

" forced into transactional sex " , thus fuelling the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

" The vulnerability assessments show the linkage with AIDS ... compared to

five years ago, we are now seeing real evidence of how orphans and

children in families affected by HIV/AIDS are affected in terms of

nutrition and health status, schooling, property rights, and abuse, "

Sterling said.

He noted that a recent UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report on orphans in

the region was important as " it's the first time we have on the table

evidence that shows that extended families and communities ... are

severely overstretched and are unable to meet the needs of children

[affected by HIV/AIDS] " .

There were immediate challenges, such as ensuring children's food security

was guaranteed through school feeding schemes, which had to be addressed.

" A number of things ... must be done in the broader context of poverty

reduction, and a massive effort is needed to reduce [HIV] infections, "

Sterling said.

There had to be " better contingency planning " and disaster management and

response. " Many plans of dealing with HIV have been derailed by floods and

droughts. We need to minimise the way in which these [natural] disasters

derail other issues, and how we address poverty in medium- to long-term, "

he added.

The UN's policy document notes that " the threat that AIDS may reverse

decades of development, undermine economic growth, and unravel the social

fabric that has held communities together during previous crises, demands

a retooling of UN responses " .

This included implementation of simultaneous humanitarian and development

action, and acknowledging the fact that HIV/AIDS in the region was " most

often defined by poverty and chronic food insecurity " .

[ENDS]

6 - SWAZILAND: Resisting condom use as AIDS deaths soar

MBABANE, 1 December (PLUSNEWS) - Resistance to condom use in Swaziland has

proved a perplexing failure for the government and health NGOs, a failure

whose consequence is apparent in new statistics on the epidemic released

by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

" We failed to learn the lesson of recent history that condoms are

unpopular. We should have stressed education, abstinence and faithfulness

to your partner from the start, " Thabsile Dlamini, secretary of the

Swaziland Nurses Association, told PlusNews.

The UNAIDS report released last week proved depressing reading. In

Swaziland " the epidemic has assumed devastating proportions " , it said.

" National HIV prevalence in Swaziland has matched that found in Botswana,

almost 39 percent. Just a decade earlier, it had stood at 4 percent. "

Like Botswana, which has led the world in HIV infections among its adult

population, Swaziland shows no sign of incipient decline in HIV

prevalence, the report stated.

In the anti-AIDS struggle the focus has increasingly shifted to

antiretroviral drugs, which are beginning to become available in

Swaziland. But as treatment efforts are stepped up, there is concern that

prevention programmes are receiving less attention.

" The emphasis is [on] treating the sick, and lengthening the lives of

HIV-positive persons. This is good, but there is still a need to prevent

infections in the first place, " Dlamini said.

Despite the AIDS toll, and the years of safe-sex messaging, condom use

remains a controversial subject.

" Swazis dislike condoms. They are unSwazi, " declared Nhlavana Maseko, an

influential traditional healer, when the World Health Organisation (WHO)

began distributing condoms in the 1990s.

One of the country's top traditional leaders, Jim Gama, governor of the

royal village Ludzidzini, has also ridiculed condom use as being

inconsistent with Swazi manhood on his popular weekly programme on

government radio.

A snap survey of attitudes carried out at the bus rank in Manzini, the

central commercial town and densest population centre in the largely rural

kingdom, found respondents using condoms on occasion, but without

consistency or with faith in their effectiveness.

" I use condoms until I run out, and if they are not available that doesn't

stop me from having sex. Condoms are not 100 percent effective, " said

Mfanakhona Khumalo, 23, a bus driver.

Nkambule, 25, a seamstress, was more emphatic. " Condoms are useless, "

she said. " They cut down on pleasure. They are like eating a sweet with

the wrapper on. "

The founder of the Swaziland AIDS Support Organisation, Hannie Dlamini,

caused a stir this month when he broke from the strategy of Swazi health

organisations that promote condoms, and publicly condemned condoms at a

rally of Christian fundamentalists.

" Condoms don't stop AIDS. They don't work. Only faithfulness and

abstinence stop AIDS, " he declared.

Dlamini's remarks, in which he also said that UN agencies have distributed

millions of defective condoms, and warned that condom users to " do so at

their own risk " , were given banner headlines in the Swazi press.

The WHO and UNAIDS responded with newspaper adverts condemning the

sensational reporting, along with " misinformation and disinformation " .

" Consistent and correct use of condoms reduces HIV transmission by at

least 99 percent in humans. This is not 100 percent, but it is pretty

close to it! " said the WHO and UNAIDS statement.

Thabsile Dlamini of the nurses' association is among health officials who

have observed the failure to popularise consistent condom usage among

Swazis, and feels other curbs on sexual activity must be pursued. " AIDS is

a moral issue, and the churches are now talking about promiscuity and

adultery, " she said.

But social welfare officials like Esther Kanduza of the Woman's Resource

Centre in Mbabane, feel efforts to promote condoms must persist, in light

of the doubtful alternative of promoting total sexual abstinence.

" Swaziland is a polygamous society where multiple sexual partners are the

tradition, " she noted.

The WHO and UNAIDS statement agreed: " Abstinence is certainly the most

perfect behaviour to avoid HIV/AIDS, but experience shows that a small

percentage of persons are going to stay abstinent for the remainder of

their lives. "

The statement concluded on a wistful note, tied to the need to continue a

policy of condom advocacy. " Wouldn't it be nice to think that by

completely abstaining, or by using correctly and consistently a condom,

close to 200,000 persons now living with HIV/AIDS in Swaziland would

prevent the infection of those who are not infected, or [not] re-infect

themselves, and lead normal lives? "

Swaziland's current population is approximately 970,000.

[ENDS]

7 - UGANDA: New deadline for free anti-retrovirals

KAMPALA, 1 December (PLUSNEWS) - Uganda's ministry of health on Monday

committed itself to offering free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to people

living with HIV/AIDS who urgently need it but cannot afford it, starting

January 2004.

The announcement was made at the World AIDS Day commemoration in Kampala,

attended by President Yoweri Museveni and Health Minister Jim Muhwezi.

In the government’s firmest commitment to date to providing access to the

drugs, Muhwezi said that from January, Uganda would be the second country

in Africa after Botswana to give free ARV drugs to its people living with

HIV/AIDS.

However, he stressed that priorities would have to be drawn up.

" We are initially giving these drugs to orphans and pregnant mothers to

prevent mother to child transmission, " Muhwezi said. " Much still depends

on how low the prices of the drugs go. Not long ago, treatments for one

month were US $500 - now they are US $27.50. "

Last month, Uganda received US $66 million for AIDS treatment and care

under the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Muhwezi told PlusNews that, in addition, Uganda has already procured US $6

million from the Bush administration and is expecting a great deal more

under President Bush’s pledge of US $15 billion to 12 African countries to

help combat the disease.

However, Muhwezi added it was not yet clear whether money from the Bush

fund would be used to buy generics, or whether the US would insist on the

purchase of patented drugs from the big brands which are 20 times more

expensive.

Uganda has an estimated 150,000 people in need of ARV drugs, only about

10,000 of whom have access to them at present.

" Four regional centres for distribution and monitoring progress of the ARV

drugs are already operational, " Muhwezi said. " And we are expecting to

have a lot more early next year. "

[ENDS]

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