HARARE, June 16 (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe voiced confidence Wednesday that Zimbabwe can win the fight against AIDS, which he described as "one of the greatest challenges" facing the southern African nation.
In an address to the first national AIDS conference, Mugabe said AIDS had struck at all levels of Zimbabwe society and claimed victims from all circles including in his family and cabinet.
"There is no doubt that HIV and AIDS is one of the greatest challenges facing our nation.
"However, it is not an insurmountable challenge. We can and we should rise above this challenge, and win the fight," he said.
Mugabe admitted that he suffered personal losses to AIDS although he did not mention any names in his remarks to some 700 delegates attending the conference that opened here on Tuesday.
"There is hardly any community or family in our country that has not been touched or affected by HIV/AIDS and that includes the extended family of... the president himself," Mugabe said.
He said the pandemic struck indiscriminately, affecting "boys and girls, adolescents ... men and women across the sectors, businessmen, members of parliament, even teachers and lecturers, alas, even ministers."
Five years ago, the government declared the pandemic, which affects one in four adults in Zimbabwe, a national disaster, paving the way for easier imports and production of antiretrovirals.
But only about 5,000 people currently have access to the life-saving drugs being administered at two government hospitals, according to a ministry of health official.
"I wish to assure this conference that improving access to treatment is one of the priorities of government," Mugabe told the delegates.
The programme is to be extended to other health centres by year end to reach 10,000 Zimbabweans -- still only a fraction of the 1.8 million people living with HIV and AIDS in the country.
The government has pledged to provide antiretroviral drugs to some 171,000 HIV-infected Zimbabweans by end of next year.
"Clearly there is a need to mobilise more resources and build sustainable partnerships so that we can reach more patients," Mugabe said.
Nevirapine, which helps reduce the transmission of HIV from mothers to their unborn babies, is being administered at 43 of the 58 district hospitals.
Delegates heard on the opening day of the conference on Tuesday that poverty and malnutrition were major hurdles in the battle against AIDS.
About three-quarters of Zimbabweans live in poverty, according to UN figures, and eating a balanced diet is a daily struggle for most of them.
The conference is being held nearly 20 years after the first AIDS case was diagnosed in the country.
Mugabe said his AIDS trust fund set in 1999 has so far raised 26 billion dollars (4.9 billion US dollars) to fund anti-AIDS programmes.
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