GABORONE, Dec 13 (AFP) - A programme in Botswana to provide all HIV/AIDS sufferers free treatment suffered a setback when a pharmaceutical supplier failed to meet a deadline, a cabinet minister said Thursday.
Health Minister Joy Phumaphi said the government would be unable to launch the programme before the end of the year because one component of the drug cocktail has not arrived yet.
"We are holding back the launch because one component of the drug has not yet come. We expected the delivery by late November, but up to now the consignment has not arrived," she told journalists. She did not name the company involved.
"We are therefore reluctant to commit ourselves as to when the therapy programme will be launched because we run a risk of raising hopes only to disappoint them," she said.
Phumaphi said once the programme was up and running, the Botswanan government expected to treat 110,000 people in its first year.
"All the children infected with the HIV/AIDS virus will be treated, as will pregnant mothers and patients with tuberculosis," she said.
Botswanan President Festus Mogae announced the free anti-retroviral programme in June this year.
At the time of the launch, Mogae also announced a campaign to encourage people to adopt Botswana's 60,000 to 80,000 AIDS orphans, with the government paying for the children's upbringing.
The cost of the drug programme has not yet been determined.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and Merck were named as the two participating companies.
In Botswana, with a population of 1.7 million, more than one-third of adults, or 35.8 percent, carry the HIV virus -- the world's highest HIV infection rate. Life expectancy has fallen to 49 from between 65 and 69 in 1998.
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