Zimbabwe health minister pledges to step up ART drug availability
The number of Zimbabweans receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is set to increase significantly over the next 12 months as the government steps up its fight against HIV/AIDS.
At present, while it is estimated that around 400,000 men, women and children could benefit from the life-prolonging drugs, just 180,000 are receiving the treatment.
In addition to severe poverty across the country, such a situation is also being made worse by a poorly-functioning national health system, making the delivery of medicines highly difficult in many parts.
However, Zimbabwe's health minister Henry Madzorera has stated that plans are in place to work with international aid organisations to step up the fight against the disease in 2010 and beyond.
"The need to improve anti-retroviral drug distribution is on top of government's priority list and (by end of this year) 300 000 people living with HIV will be able to access the life saving drugs," he told the country's independent news agency ZimOnline.
He also pledged to ensure that people living with HIV do not need to travel more than eight kilometres to collect ART drugs by the end of this year.
Retarded economic growth and high levels of poverty are seen as being among the main reasons behind the high levels of HIV/AIDS cases in sub-Saharan Africa, with one in three deaths from the condition currently occurring here.
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