The South African government is working on several fronts to reduce the cost of medicines, including antiretroviral drugs to combat HIV/Aids, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday.
Addressing the Regional Governance and Aids Forum attended by representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), governments of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) in Cape Town, Zuma said that the Medicines Control Council had made progress in registering some generic antiretroviral drugs after receiving
voluntary licenses from certain multinational companies, and expected this to lead to lower prices for these antiretrovirals in the medium- term.
At the same time, he said, the South African government was optimistic that when the new Medicines Control Amendment Act comes into force this year, it would facilitate the purchase of medicines at cheaper prices. This law was drawn up in consultation with the major global pharmaceutical companies.
“We are also continuing in our efforts to secure an appropriate World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement that will facilitate access to essential medicines such as those for HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria for developing countries,” he told Forum participants.
“Successful treatment with antiretrovirals also requires regular laboratory tests to monitor the condition of the immune system. We will continue to work to reduce the high current costs of these tests as well.”
South Africa had also made progress in its HIV/Aids prevention strategy, he revealed, with a number of surveys confirming that awareness levels of HIV/Aids in the country were very high, at over 90%.
“We have embarked on a R98-million campaign, called Khomanani (Caring Together), to reinforce and translate these figures into a conscientious change in lifestyles, especially among young people. We hope to see results soon.”
Zuma also stressed the importance of an integrated, coordinated approach among African countries and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) to fighting HIV/Aids and other devastating diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Malaria alone was estimated to have slowed economic growth in Africa by 1,3% a year, and HIV/Aids by up to 2,6% in high-prevalence countries.
“The Nepad health programme offers a medium-term approach to the development of an effective and sustainable programme to reduce the huge burden of communicable diseases and to set Africa on a path towards achieving its goals,” he said.
“The programme has identified seven key areas for development, including: donor funding towards core service costs; retaining Africa’s health workers; affordable drug prices; drug selection and distribution; an emergency transport fund; surveillance and laboratory capacity; and a health policy programme. Other Nepad projects focus on, amongst other things, securing initial centres of excellence and
networks, new drug and vaccine development and building a sound communications infrastructure.” – I-Net Bridge