Panafrican News Agency - November 26, 2001
The fall in prices is a consequence of the country's support for the speeding-up of access to medical care for AIDS victims through a price reduction from the main pharmaceutical firms.
Reporting last Monday on the weekly ministers' meeting devoted to the programme of the fight against AIDS,
Government spokesman Francois Ibovi said that Congo has fulfilled all the necessary conditions to subscribe to the fight against AIDS.
These included the government's decision to forego customs duties on the anti-retroviral drugs and its possible re-exportation toward other countries.
For the time being, Ibovi said that the Congolese government and the main pharmaceutical firms, whose names he declined to reveal, have initiated talks on the tri-therapy treatment's price reduction.
"The agreed prices for the treatment vary between 21,000 CFA francs (28 US dollars) and 56,000 CFA francs (about 75 US dollars) per patient a month as against 350,000 and 400,000 CFA francs (465 to 534 dollars) on the local pharmaceutical market", said Ibovi, who is also communication minister.
The Congolese government has also decided to spend every year 584 million CFA francs (over 800,000 dollars) for the treatment of 1,000 HIV patients.
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