The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) on Tuesday welcomed the Namibian government’s decision to introduce antiretroviral therapy at public hospitals.
The Namibian health department took the decision after it realised that the absence of antiretroviral therapy reduced the life span of HIV/Aids patients, the TAC claimed.
The Namibian government announced on Tuesday that it had budgeted 82,2 million Namibian dollars for the purchase of antiretroviral drugs for HIV-positive people.
Namibian finance minister Nangolo Mbumba said the money was set aside in the 2003 and 2004 budget. A further 74 million Namibian dollars to fight HIV/Aids was made available in the development budget, Mbumba said.
The TAC said Namibia had joined Botswana, Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi, Cote ‘d Ivoire, Senegal and Kenya in making antiretroviral therapy available in the public sector.
”South Africa with much greater resources than all of these countries leaves 600 people a day to die. We attempt to make peace in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both necessary commitments, but we neglect the lives lost to HIV/Aids, the pain left behind and the devastation in families in our own country.
The TAC said delays by government in finalising a comprehensive treatment and prevention plan, as well as what it described as the government’s continued hesitancy to provide antiretroviral therapy could only be explained by ”its flirtation with HIV denialists”.
”We urge the South African government to immediately release the completed costing study on ARV treatment and to sign the National Economic Development Labour Council agreement,” the TAC said. – Sapa