ABUJA, Sept 7 (AFP) - Nigeria announced Friday the go-ahead of the first government-sponsored treatment in Africa of thousands of HIV/AIDS sufferers with imported generic antiretroviral drugs.
Over coming weeks, 15,000 people living with HIV/AIDS will receive heavily subsidised treatment with the generic drugs known as ARVs, imported from India at a fraction of the cost of Western-produced drugs, Health Minister Alphonsus Nwosu said.
The government, taking advantage of the withdrawal in April of a suit by Western pharmaceutical giants against South Africa, has also licensed the drugs' commercial importation, in a programme controlled to prevent counterfeiting, Nwosu told a news conference.
The major Western drugs companies -- which say they spent billions of dollars developing the medicines -- had tried to block the importation of copies produced in India and other developing countries at a fraction of the cost.
But they withdrew a suit against the South African government in April under public pressure.
Africans say they cannot possibly afford the cost of ARV treatment which runs at between 10,000 and 20,000 dollars per year in the West.
The per capita annual income in Nigeria is around 300 dollars.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is the continent's third most AIDS-affected nation with 2.6 million sufferers.
However the epidemic is now in what health workers here say is its "explosive" stage and the population suffering from the virus is expected to grow sharply.
The Nigerian government's programme is supported by the United Nations. The World Bank and bilateral donors are also supporting the initiative.
So far, the relatively wealthy southern African country of Botswana has agreed to provide free ARV treatment to HIV/AIDS sufferers using Western drugs, but other countries including South Africa have fought shy of imported ARV treatment.
Nwosu said President Olusegun Obasanjo was aware of the risks involved in treatment with a difficult combination drug therapy, particularly in a society with high illiteracy and low education levels.
And he said the government would proceed gradually, expanding its subsidised treatment programme if it is shown to be working.
"Next year, we intend to scale up gradually, depending on the evidence we have on the capability" of staff and patients to deal with it, he said.
But he said it was vital to provide some treatment which has for many in the West turned HIV into a chronic rather than a fatal disease.
Nigeria has imported drugs from Indian groups Cipla and Rambazy at a cost of 350 dollars per year, he said, showing off the drugs Nevirapine and Lamivudine.
In total, Nigeria will spend 500 million naira (around 4.5 million dollars) on the programme this year, he said.
The lucky 15,000 patients selected will be treated at around 60 medical centres nationwide and will be asked to pay just 1,000 naira (nine dollars) per month, he said.
Obasanjo said he was determined that the programme would not be halted, or the cost to the patients raised, noting the serious medical impact of stopping the treatment on those taking the drugs.
"Anyone on the programme will remain on the programme for as long as President Obasanjo is president of Nigeria at the same subsidised rate that is being given now," he said.
He admitted that the numbers starting the trial treatment was small in the face of the numbers needing the drugs but said it was only a start, and an important one for the continent.
"The implication of it for the rest of Africa is that it will assist us in halting the rampage of the disease," he said.
Beyond the treatment programme, Nigeria had registered the drugs with its food and drugs control agency, NAFDAC, for controlled commercial imports.
"We registered it with NAFDAC which means it can be imported into the country, but we shall monitor the importation to make sure" the drugs are not counterfeits and to ensure that prices are not raised, he said.
010907
AF010922
Copyright © AFP or Agence France-Presse, 2001 - All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission.. http://www.afp.com/
ÆGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2001. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2001 - ÆGiS. ÆGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on ÆGIS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of ÆGIS and the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
