AN ANNUAL budget of nearly $400 million for drug therapy is required if the Government decides to treat AIDS patients attending public hospitals with the expensive antiretroviral drugs which can improve their quality of life.
Dr. Yitades Gebre, director of the National HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme, says that for dual drug therapy, it would cost $240 million per year and for the more effective triple therapy it would be $360 million. But, he said, it would be difficult to ask the Government for these funds since the current annual budget for pharmaceuticals and sundries is $400 million.
"Even without factoring in the cost of the AIDS drug therapy, the present budget requires an additional $400 million to fulfil the existing needs. So it is a big challenge," he said.
These AIDS drugs, called antiretrovirals (such as the well-known AZT), are able to reduce mortality and morbidity in patients with HIV/AIDS. They work primarily by reducing the viral load in blood, therefore reducing the pressure on the immune system and making the patient less susceptible to other illnesses.
'Opportunistic illnesses'
"(The drugs will) improve quality of life, restore productivity of the individual, (lessen) hospital admissions and lessen transmission of the virus to uninfected persons as well," Dr. Gebre acknowledged.
However, AIDS patients admitted to public hospitals are still being treated only for the "opportunistic illnesses" or HIV-related diseases. Based on the occupational profile of persons with HIV/AIDS, it is estimated that most of them, (about 95 per cent) cannot afford to pay for the drug therapy with their small incomes. The monthly cost of the drug therapy ranges between $20,000 and $35,000 per patient, depending on whether the patient takes a cocktail of two or three of the drugs.
Recently, an initiative was announced by UNAIDS to accelerate access to HIV/AIDS treatment in developing countries. This initiative would slash costs of a cocktail of AZT and 3TC by one-third in developing countries or one-fifth of its current cost in the United States. However, Dr. Gebre said that the UNAIDS initiative was primarily targeted at African countries which are presently bearing the greatest burden from HIV/AIDS.
"We are not clear about the extent of this agreement, if it includes developing countries in the Caribbean and other areas affected by the epidemic," he said.
