Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - March 10, 2004
Marta Odallah
The Italian-based Community of Sant'Egidio runs 13 centers fighting AIDS and drug abuse and its initiative providing free anti-retroviral drugs that prolong life for AIDS patients is the largest by a private organization in the country.
A team from Sant'Egidio arrived in Mozambique Tuesday to review its projects and one official said Wednesday 1,200 Mozambicans had received anti-retroviral drugs under its care.
Sant'Egidio official Paola Germano told reporters at Matola, a small town 15 km (10 miles) west of the capital Maputo where the group manages a small hospital, that of 388 HIV-positive pregnant women in its program, 380 had given birth to HIV-free babies, "a true success in this program."
Sant'Egidio purchased generic nevirapine drugs used in its mother-to-child program from India at an annual cost of $350 per person, a fraction of the price charged by Western pharmaceutical companies.
In a region where AIDS is still a taboo subject and patients are often shunned, some 2,800 women had been voluntarily tested for HIV at Sant'Egidio centers, of whom 680 were found positive and put on free anti-retroviral treatment.
Sant'Egidio is funded largely by an Italian financial institution. Germano said more cash was needed from other donors, such as the World Bank, to expand their work.
"Fighting AIDS is a massive task and we need and appeal for more funding from agencies such as the World Bank so we can expand the good work taking place in Mozambique," she told Reuters in the dusty and tropical heat of Matola.
Sant'Egidio started administering free AIDS drugs in 2002 after two years of haggling on the subject with the government.
The Community of Sant'Egidio began in Rome in 1968 and has over 40,000 members, mainly lay people dedicated to preaching and charity in Italy and at least 60 other countries throughout the world. Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world. AIDS prevalence there is 14 percent in a population of 18 million -- relatively good news in southern Africa where rates range between 20 and 40 percent.
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