LAGOS, Dec 24 (AFP) - Nigerian AIDS workers on Saturday welcomed a government announcement of free treatment for people suffering from the disease but questioned whether the government could fulfill its promises.
President Olusegun Obasanjo signed off on a health ministry proposal to distribute free anti-retroviral drugs to up to 500,000 HIV/AIDS patients from January next year, Abuja announced Friday.
Africa's most populous country has the world's third-highest number of people with HIV/AIDS -- 3.5 million -- after India and South Africa.
The health ministry said the measure was a "Christmas present" to those living with the virus and also announced that the monthly contribution of 1,000 nairas (six euros, seven dollars) would be waived for patients selected for the programme.
AIDS groups in the oil-rich West African nation of 130 million have long pushed for abolition of the fee, arguing many patients could not afford it, leading to gaps in treatment and increasing patient resistance to anti-retrovirals.
"That is exactly what we have been asking for for a very long time. It is very good for us," said Rolake Odetoyinbo of Treatment Access Movement.
The government claimed it would treat 250,000 patients by June 2006, about half of those requiring the drugs, Odetoyinbo said.
Not all people living with HIV needed treatment, he added.
"I hope they have considered the issue of supplies and budget. But first of all, the government has to create the right and favourable environment to make sure that free ARV distribution happens," he said.
"They have to include the communities in their strategies and also people living with HIV in the treatment, and to fight stigmatisation of these persons who are unable to take the drugs sometimes."
Femi Soyinka, president of the international AIDS conference in the capital Abuja in early December, queried whether the government could support a long-term programme.
"My concern is that they give the drugs in the long term to avoid problems of resistance. They must have a plan to sustain it as long as it is needed," he said.
A Nigerian study by health aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors Without Borders) found breaks in treatment led to patients developing resistance to anti-retrovirals which then required more powerful, costlier drugs.
Patients had to find on average 44 dollars per month for the drugs and tests for plotting the virus's development, MSF said.
The health ministry said 11 million dollars (9.6 million euros) were earmarked for the scheme, part of one billion dollars in savings gained through Nigeria's recent debt relief agreement with the Paris Club of creditor countries.
Foreign companies had been contacted to supply the drugs, the ministry said in a statement Friday.
"President Obasanjo said the free treatment regime was also to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS enjoy the fruit of the debt forgiveness," the statement said.
The Paris Club on October 20 announced it would cancel 18 billion dollars or 60 percent of Nigeria's 30-billion-dollar debt and voiced strong support for the country's economic development policy and its fight against poverty.
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