Recent disruptions in the supply of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs and other essential medical items in at least six African countries are putting HIV patients’ lives at risk, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today, in advance of the International AIDS Society Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. ...
"In South Africa, the government budget for health was cut due to the global financial crisis; finding alternative funding seems difficult in the short term.
“All around us, clinics stop enrolling patients because there are just not enough ARV supplies,” said Eric Goemaere, MSF head of mission in South Africa. “The waiting lists are growing by the day, risking that patients die before they start ARVs. It’s unbelievable that a relatively well-functioning ARV program has been allowed to be crippled in the space of just a few weeks. MSF will not be able to fill the gaps, and we seriously question why we should have to do so, in view of declared international commitments.”
Read more in MSF (Doctors Without Borders), July 17, 2009.
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