AEGiS-AP: AIDS-related deaths decline in Cuba

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

AIDS-related deaths decline in Cuba

Associated Press - November 27, 2002

HAVANA - (AP) -- The number of AIDS-related deaths in Cuba has dropped significantly over the past 1 years following the development of several local treatments, a leading expert said in an interview published this week.

"It was a political decision by Cuba to start the generic production of these medicines to save the lives of human beings," Dr. Jorge P rez, director of the island's leading AIDS treatment center, told the weekly newspaper Trabajadores for its Monday edition.

Cuba began producing a series of generic antiviral drugs for treating the AIDS virus starting in May 2001, said P rez, who directs the Pedro Kouri Institute in Havana.

During the first 10 months of this year, 66 people in Cuba died from AIDS-related causes, lower than was expected, P rez said.

He said authorities anticipated a death rate of 25 percent for people with AIDS this year, but so far have seen a death rate of only 7 percent.

P rez credited the locally produced treatments, which help people with AIDS improve their autoimmune defenses and slow the virus' progress.

They are not, however, a cure. The doctor said 743 Cubans with AIDS are currently receiving the treatments.

The first Cuban carrying the virus that causes AIDS was detected in 1986. Since, 4,390 people have been diagnosed HIV-positive, and about 1,000 of them have died.

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