Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 8/12/2004

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

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - ZAMBIA: Activists concerned over drug shortages in ARV roll-out

2 - ZIMBABWE: Disabled highly vulnerable to HIV

1 - ZAMBIA: Activists concerned over drug shortages in ARV roll-out

JOHANNESBURG, 12 August (PLUSNEWS) - Shortages of a critical generic

antiretroviral (ARV) drug used in Zambia's AIDS treatment programme have

revealed a lack of adequate planning by the government that could derail

the ARV rollout, activists told PlusNews on Thursday.

Zambian health minister Dr Chituwo announced in parliament this week

that supplies of Triomune-30, a fixed-dose combination of Nevirapine,

Lamivudine and Stavudine, had run out.

But there was " no reason to panic or get alarmed " , department of health

spokesman Dr Victor Mukonka told PlusNews. " There will be no treatment

interruptions - this is only one drug out of 16 formulations that are

available in the country. "

This was not good enough for the country's AIDS activists. Winston Zulu,

coordinator of the AIDS NGO Kara Trust said: " There has been this sudden

rush to meet all these WHO quotas [WHO's '3 x 5' goal of providing

treatment to 3 million people by 2005] without proper planning - that is

why we are seeing problems like this. "

Nachibanga, a member of the Network of Zambian People living with

HIV/AIDS agreed. " The government rushed in before the community was

prepared to handle it. They bought drugs in bulk without putting in place

proper procurement procedures. "

Zulu warned that the national treatment programme could be in trouble. " I

am very scared about the provision of ARVs in Zambia because it is not

being done well. As someone who has been taking ARVs for years, I know

that bad treatment is worse than no treatment. "

According to Mukonka, the government had already issued an emergency

tender for Triamune-30 and a consignment was expected " very soon " .

HIV-positive Zambians who are currently taking Triamune-30 will be given

separate tablets of the component drugs until new supplies arrive.

Both Zulu and Nachibanga expressed concern about the nutrition of

HIV-positive Zambians on treatment. " In Botswana, ARVs are being

distributed with food packs, but this is not being done here - people are

getting ARVs on empty stomachs, " Zulu pointed out.

The current cost-sharing scheme, where patients at public hospitals are

required to pay Kwacha 40,000 (US $8) for ARVs, was another cause for

concern. According to Nachibanga, this was not feasible for the majority

of HIV-positive people.

Zulu called on the government to " go back to the drawing board " , and

instead of expanding the treatment programme rapidly, should make sure

patients currently on treatment were monitored and received adequate

support.

The health minister told parliament this week that the government had

managed to exceed its target of 10,000 patients on treatment and 12,000

people were now receiving anti-AIDS drugs.

" The government should be commended for taking such a bold step and

activists should be supporting us, instead of getting people excited for

nothing. People must understand that we have a plan and we are still on

course for meeting our target of treating 100,000 people by 2005, " said

health department spokesman Mukonka.

[ENDS]

2 - ZIMBABWE: Disabled highly vulnerable to HIV

HARARE, 12 August (PLUSNEWS) - The special needs of disabled people need

to be urgently addressed in AIDS awareness programmes if the worrying rate

of infection is to be curbed, according to Zimbabwean NGOs working with

people living with disabilities.

More than 1.2 million people in Zimbabwe are disabled, of which 300,000

are HIV positive. The instructions for the use of condoms have never been

distributed in braille for people with visual impairments and no attempts

have been made to advertise condoms in sign language for those with

hearing difficulties, according to Farai Gasa Mukuta, president of the

National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped

(NASCOH).

NASCOH, an umbrella body representing organisations for the disabled, has

produced a video- and an audiotape on HIV/AIDS in an attempt to address

the information gap.

The two tapes - 'An HIV/AIDS Sign Language Vocabulary' and 'Dancing with

Death' - attempt to package information in a way that will appeal to the

needs of the disabled.

The sign language vocabulary is a compilation of 69 terms associated with

HIV/AIDS, while 'Dancing With Death' is a video drama that tackles the

issues of sexuality, sexual abuse and HIV/AIDS among the disabled, enacted

in sign language with a voice-over for the blind.

Contrary to the popular belief that people with disabilities had no sex

lives and therefore were not at risk of contracting HIV, Mukuta said most

of them were sexually active. However, in many cases, the disabled did not

have access to sufficient sex education to protect themselves.

Mukuta said the vulnerability of the disabled to HIV infection was

worsened by poverty. " Disabled women often struggle to make ends meet and

you find able bodied men taling advantage of them ... The women have to

resort to using their bodies for transactional sex and this increases

their risk of HIV infection. "

The Zimbabwean government awards disabled persons a grant of just Zim

$15,000 (less than US $3) per month.

[ENDS]

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