Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Reuters NewMedia - June 20, 2005
Shapi Shacinda
Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande said the plan to provide free anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) was approved by cabinet last week after Zambia received additional debt relief from the Group of Eight (G8) rich nations.
Magande also said the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, founded by Microsoft <MSFT.O> founder Bill Gates, had given Zambia $35 million to fight malaria, which the Treasury says kills more people than AIDS.
He said the government had scrapped a 40,000 Zambian kwacha ($9) fee which people receiving ARVs were previously required to pay each month.
"We realised that people were even unable to go for testing let alone pay the small fee to access the ARVs. We want to raise the number of people receiving free drugs to 100,000 by the end of the year," Magande told Reuters in an interview.
Transport costs to AIDS testing centres are prohibitive for some people in rural areas.
Zambia is now treating just over 13,000 people with life-prolonging ARVs. Health officials estimate 920,000 Zambians are infected with HIV, and 200,000 have debilitating chronic illnesses as a result of infection.
Magande said the government would use part of the $192 million from the Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis and a $45 million World Bank grant to provide free AIDS drugs.
"Some of the money saved from debt relief will also be used to provide free AIDS drugs," Magande said, without providing further details.
Magande said Zambia was keen to fight AIDS and malaria, which have been described as the two major killers in Zambia, an impoverished Southern African nation of about 10 million people.
The government has previously said malaria kills more people than AIDS each year.
"We have also received $35 million (grant) from the Bill (& Melinda) Gates Foundation which will enable us to scale up the fight against malaria," Magande said.
In April, the IMF approved Zambia's $4 billion debt relief package after the country met conditions for sustained good economic management under the initiative for highly indebted poor countries, a global plan to cancel debts owed by some poor nations.
On Sunday, Magande said Zambia projected it would receive an additional $2.5 billion in debt relief after the G8 nations cancelled 100 percent debts owed to multilateral lending institutions by 18 poor nations, including Zambia.
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