Malawi government bemoans high price of ARVs

The Malawi government has bemoaned the high costs of anti-retrovial drugs (ARVs) and is exploring ways of having the drugs manufactured locally in a bid to make them cheap. Secretary for Nutrition, HIV and AIDS in the President’s office Mary Shaba told a local paper that plans to have the durgs manufactured locally started long time ago and that government has been putting in place mechanisms that will ensure that this is a reality. “It is something we have been exploring for some time and once all the policies are in place, we should be able to find a way,” she told the Guardian Newspaper.

This is one ambitious program that might not see the light of the day in the near future considering the economic status of the country, with about 50 percent of the population living below the poverty. However, recently, at the the AIDS summit in Mexico, Malawi was touted as one of the countries in the southern African region that has made tremendous progress in the provision of free drugs to people living with HIV and AIDS. Overall, Malawi’s Aids policy was hailed at the summit as the best that has helped reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.

According to government, 250, 000 Malawians are in need of ARV, but only 100, 000 are accessing the drugs. Government is working to ensure that as many Malawians as possible have access to the drugs. The National AIDS Commission (NAC) – a government arm commissioned with the task of fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic is one of the largest beneficiaries of this year’s K229 billion (US$1,631,607,048) nattional budget. In the 2008/2009 national budget, Malawi has set aside K75 million for the purchase of ARVs and other drugs for opportunistic infections. Despite these efforts, Shawa says challenges abound in the fight against HIV/AIDS especially in the area of nitrition due to lack of dieticians and well trained nutritionists to assist people on ARV treatment. “There are no dieticians in hospitals that is why you would find a patient’s condition getting worse while in a hospital ward,” she told the paper.

Meanwhile Oxfarm GB Chief Executive Officer, Barbara Stocking, currently visiting Malawi says she is overwhelmed by the country’s level of commitment demonstrated by Malawians in the fight against HIV/AIDS and poverty. “I am personally overwhelmed with the commitment demonstrated by communities here. Most of them are giving support to the elderly, the sick, orphans and the vulbnerable, yet without expecting anything in return and I find this totally amazing,” said Stocking when she visited Chiradzulo in southern Malawi where her organization is carrying out 81 development projects. Oxfarm has been running project in the district since 2005 and since then, a substantial progress has been made in tackling HIV/AIDS and other development initiatives.