LAGOS, Dec 1 (AFP) - The Nigerian government on Saturday rose in defence of cheap generic AIDS drugs imported from India saying that they had the same quality as the branded ones.
"India has gone far. India is advanced in the manufacture of quality drugs, India is technically far advanced in the field," said Sani Gwarzo, the coordinator of Nigeria's AIDS programme.
"We are buying these cheap AIDS drugs but (they) have the same quality as those with branded names," Gwarzo said in a special phone-in programme on Radio Nigeria to mark World AIDS Day.
In a first for Africa, Nigeria will next month finally launch a trial programme, announced in September, to use cheap, imported generic AIDS drugs to fight the disease, a top official had said Thursday.
In January, the country will also launch a special programme aimed at preventing transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child, Deputy Health Minister Amina Ndalolo told reporters in Abuja.
The use of imported generic drugs -- produced in India by the groups Cipla and Rambazy at a fraction of the cost of western-produced drugs -- was only made possible by a court case in South Africa in April.
Nigeria, which was slower than countries in southern and eastern Africa to be affected by the AIDS pandemic, is fast becoming one of the most affected countries on the continent.
Briefing reporters on the latest AIDS survey in Nigeria, Ndalolo said that the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the country had risen to 3.47 million in 2001, from 2.7 million in 1999.
Attempting to fight the spread of AIDS after hosting a major AIDS summit the government negotiated a deal with two Indian drugs companies earlier this year to import generic anti-AIDS drugs at a cost of 350 dollars per year per patient.
The trial of the drugs, which officials had scheduled to start within weeks of September, will finally be launched on December 10, Ndalolo said.
Ndalolo said Saturday on the radio programme that the government will spare no effort in tackling the AIDS scourge.
The Nigerian government's AIDS programme is supported by the United Nations. The World Bank and bilateral donors are also backing the initiative.
In total, Nigeria has pledged to spend 500 million naira (around 4.5 million dollars) on the programme in a year.
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