KAMPALA, Dec 17 (AFP) - Uganda will in February start supplying free antiretroviral drugs to people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, Health Minister Brigadier Jim Muhwezi said Wednesday.
"It is going to be gradual. We shall start with orphans, people involved in the mother-to-child transmission programme, health workers who contract the disease while carrying out their duties and other less privileged groups," Muhwezi told AFP in a telephone interview.
International donor organisations, including the UN Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria, expect to disburse a total of 279 million dollars (226 million euros) to fight AIDS in Uganda, according to the minister.
An estimated 1.2 million Ugandans are infected with HIV and some two million children have lost their parents to AIDS, according to official figures.
Some 100,000 Ugandan AIDS patients are thought to be in need of antiretroviral treatment, but only 17,000 of them now have access to the drugs.
Uganda has achieved remarkable success in fighting AIDS, cutting HIV infection rates from 30 percent in 1990 to about five percent today.
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