Ethiopia to Provide Free Antiretroviral Drugs in Major Anti-AIDS Drive

On Monday, Ethiopia launched an AIDS plan -- its fifth AIDS campaign since 1996 -- that will for the first time include the distribution of antiretroviral drugs. "Twenty hospitals have been selected and 30,000 people are going to get antiretroviral therapy this year, and more than 200,000 persons within three years," said Deputy Health Minister Tedros Adhanom. The U.S. government is funding the plan with $43 million. Antiretroviral treatment will save 78,000 lives in the country per year and reduce the number of AIDS orphans to 332,000 by 2008, according to an Ethiopian government report. "The major targets are to improve the quality of life of people living with AIDS, to accelerate the local manufacture of antiretrovirals, to develop locally based HIV/AIDS prevention, and to ensure sustainable social mobilization," said Adhanom.

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