Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 3/9/2004

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

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

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CONTENT:

1 - LESOTHO: HIV/AIDS testing facilities still to be set up

1 - LESOTHO: HIV/AIDS testing facilities still to be set up

JOHANNESBURG, 9 March (PLUSNEWS) - Lesotho launched universal HIV/AIDS

testing for its citizens at the weekend, but the first three dedicated

testing centres will only be operational by the end of April

Motloheloa Phooko, the minister of health and social welfare, told

PlusNews that in the meantime eight Prevention of mother-to-child

transmission (PMTCT) clinics were being used to provide testing services.

The PMTCT centres are located in four of the country's 10 districts.

The Lesotho government also aims to draw up a cost-effective plan by June

to provide cheaper antiretrovirals (ARVs) to its population, a senior

government official said.

About 300,000 Basotho are infected with HIV, of which an estimated 28,000

have CD4 counts (which measure the strength of the body's immune system)

under 200, qualifying them for treatment, Phooko said. The government

hopes to be able to provide them with ARVs by 2005.

The tiny mountain kingdom has a population of 2.2 million.

Providing free ARVs would cost the government US $14 million annually.

" And that is just the cost of the ARVs - we will also have to consider the

cost of providing CD4 counts, which is mandatory for monitoring the effect

of the ARVs on the patients, counseling etc, " Phooko pointed out.

" By June, we will have an idea of what the situation is on the ground. We

would have spoken to all the pharmaceutical companies and other

role-players, " he said.

Qacha's Nek in southeastern Lesotho, where the universal testing programme

was launched, does not have testing facilities. " Judging by the response

we received - about 200 people had lined up to be tested by the end of

Saturday - we will have to set up a centre there as soon as possible, "

Phooka noted.

The government's goal is to have testing facilities available at all the

18 hospital in the country.

The voluntary testing programme will cost an estimated US $10.1 million,

calculated on the basis of testing one million people at US $10 per person

by the end of 2004. Much of that amount will be covered by a $12.5 million

grant from the Geneva-based Global Fund for Fighting HIV/AIDS and

Tuberculosis.

Dr Kiasekoka, the World Health Organisation's (WHO)representative

in Lesotho, said the country had only two laboratory units that could

perform the CD4 count and viral load tests.

Kiasekoka, who chairs the Lesotho-UN theme group on HIV/AIDS, said WHO was

assisting the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to acquire and

position another four laboratory units at various health facilities.

" Despite the reduced cost of ARVs, this medication is still going to be

expensive in the Lesotho context of food insecurity and poverty, " Dr

Kiasekoka said.

[ENDS]

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