Malawi to Double Free AIDS Drugs Coverage by 2010

Malawian Health Minister Marjorie Ngaunje said plans are underway to increase by more than two-fold the number of people receiving free antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in the country. "With currently 115,000 people on ARVs, the government aims at increasing this number to 245,000 by the year 2010," she told a conference organized by Doctors Without Borders. According to UNAIDS, Malawi's HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is 14 percent: Some 930,000 Malawians are living with the disease. "Approximately 170,000 Malawians are believed to be in urgent need of ARVs today," she said. The government's free ARV program, she said, has been hit by "a persistent crisis over the past decade, which is largely caused by [an] acute shortage of professional health workers in the public health sector." With funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, Malawi has recruited 5,000 health professionals to increase access to treatment, said Ngaunje.

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