AIDS Drugs Shortage Threatens Africa

Progress in the fight against AIDS could be reversed in six African countries due to chronic shortages of AIDS drugs, Doctors Without Borders warned Saturday in Cape Town at the opening of the 5th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention. DWB's report focused on Zimbabwe, Uganda, Congo, Malawi, Guinea, and South Africa.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has not received $3 billion-$4 billion in funding promised by donors, said Mit Philips of DWB. The fund has had to cut 10 percent from grants already approved last year, she said. "Some countries have committed but have not paid and there's a lot of uncertainty at an international level whether the Global Fund will get the money it needs," Philips said.

On the US campaign trail, presidential candidate Barack Obama promised to increase funding the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief by $1 billion annually. However, PEPFAR's funding has remained flat, Philips said. Some organizations in Uganda that are supported by PEPFAR have been told to stop taking new patients, she also noted.

"There's no doubt people will die as a consequence," Eric Goemaere, medical coordinator for DWB in South Africa. "It's a catastrophe in the making."

For patients, it could mean having to wait for treatment until they are sicker, need specialist care, and are more vulnerable to treatment side effects. "It makes a huge difference if people come walking in for treatment, or if they are coming in on stretchers," said Goemaere. "We will be going back to the dark times with people thinking that treatment is not reliable or not accessible, so 'let's hide the disease,'" he said.

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