Health facilities in Swaziland are experiencing shortages in antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and other medications despite insistence from the country’s health department that the shortage has been resolved, IRIN/PlusNews reports.
According to officials with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, a shortage of antiretroviral supplies did occur in July and August but has been corrected. Derek Von Wissel, director of Swaziland’s National Emergency Response Committee on HIV/AIDS, said that the country now has a ‘steady supply’ of antiretrovirals, adding that there are people ‘using the drug issue to discredit government’ as part of a ‘political agenda.’
Maphangisa Dlamini, a home-based care nurse with the group Swaziland Positive Living for Life, said the shortages in the health facilities began three months ago and has forced some HIV-positive people to change their medication regimens because certain drugs were not in stock.
News-medical.net yesterday (22 September 2008) reported Dlamini saying the high level of poverty in Swaziland hinders patients from buying the medications on their own.
According to IRIN/PlusNews, Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence in the world, with 26 percent of its adults living with the virus, and a high default rate for ARV therapy. Von Wissel said about 31 percent of patients in the country taking ARVs stop receiving treatment within their first year on the medication. The government has been decentralizing ARV treatments, with about 30percent of the country's local clinics offering the drugs.
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