Poverty and malnutrition are undermining Zimbabwe’s battle against HIV and Aids, about 700 delegates heard at a conference that opened in Harare on Tuesday.
Doctors who have been examining the impact of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) in Zimbabwe have found that the anti-Aids drugs are too expensive in a country where some three-quarters of the population live in poverty.
”The issue of poverty … is one of the factors limiting the access to ARVs,” said Phineas Makurira, who spoke on behalf of the doctors at the first national conference on HIV and Aids to be held in the southern African country.
”It is estimated that about 5 000 patients are currently on ARVs in Zimbabwe, although this might be an underestimate,” said health ministry Aids expert Christine Chakanyuka.
They are a tiny fraction of the estimated 1,8-million Zimbabweans living with HIV and Aids.
The three-day conference aims to come up with the best strategies and practices for combatting Aids, which kills an estimated 3 000 Zimbabweans a week.
”I’m quite optimistic that this is not going to be a talking shop,” Panganayi Dhliwayo, a member of the organising committee and health ministry official, told a press conference.
He added that, contrary to what had been said about the high price of drugs, many families in Zimbabwe could in fact afford the prices charged for ARVs, the drugs that help to slow down the progression of HIV/Aids, at some Zimbabwean clinics.
”At 150 000 dollars [$28] a month you don’t even need free treatment,” he said.
He attributed the price reduction to the local manufacture of generic anti-retrovirals. ”People are not aware that the cost of ARVs has come down so much,” he said.
Nutritionist Percy Chipepera told delegates meanwhile that recent studies had shown that malnutrition in Zimbabwe was exacerbating the condition of people with HIV/Aids.
”Malnutrition affects 90% of HIV/Aids patients (and) … it is also responsible for 60% to 80% of Aids deaths,” he said.
Over the last three years Zimbabwe has experienced a serious food shortage attributed to droughts and the chaotic land reforms that saw the seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms handed over to landless blacks.
Farm workers are also becoming less productive due to HIV-induced illnesses.
President Robert Mugabe’s government plans to roll out free ARVs to some 171 000 people by end of next year.
But the health ministry’s Chakanyuka hinted that it may be unable to meet that deadline, saying ”we are limited by resources”.
Another health official said attention should not be focussed on ARVs alone.
”We need to provide a comprehensive package to manage HIV/Aids in the country, not to just provide ARVs,” Owen Mugurungi said.
With about one in four adults infected by HIV, Zimbabwe ranks among the countries worst hit by the pandemic. An estimated 166 000 new HIV cases were registered last year, according to Chakanyuka.
However, Zimbabwe’s Aids statistics are not all gloomy, health official Dhliwayo told reporters. He said now that HIV figures were beginning to decline, Zimbabwe deserved a pat on the back.
”Now that it (HIV infection) has stabilised and is starting to go down, I think we should congratulate ourselves and say that our efforts are bearing fruit,” Dhliwayo said. – Sapa-AFP