Government position on AIDS drugs "contradictory"

A coalition of organisations involved in the fight for access to essential medicines in Kenya, has urged the Kenyan government to clarify its "contradictory" position on implementation of a new law aimed at expanding use of HIV/AIDS treatment in the country. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Kenya Coalition for Access to Essential Medicines said official statements in recent weeks had created the impression that the government was ready to implement a comprehensive programme to make cheaper anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs available to Kenya's estimated 400,000 AIDS patients, who could benefit from such medicine. However, no national procurement policy had been put in place to guide the implementation of the programme. The importation of cheaper generic AIDS drugs into Kenya was made possible by a recent amendment to the new Industrial Property Act. However, the government is yet to develop a comprehensive policy to address the complex processes involved in the implementation of the new Act, the statement said. "We applaud the government's willingness to make ARV's widely available to Kenyans," Liza Kimbo, a member of the coalition, stated. "But these and other similar statements by government representatives sow confusion and obscure the fact that there are still major obstacles to the implementation of a comprehensive ARV programme in Kenya. We would like to see a clear and well defined policy." The coalition took issue with recent remarks by some senior officials in the health ministry who have promised that the government is ready to purchase ARV therapies for free use or at minimal charges. This position is, however, contradictory, according to the coalition, which sees other major obstacles preventing the importation of ARVs into the country. One such obstacle, the coalition argued, was the fact that the majority of ARVs had not yet been registered in Kenya. The Pharmacy and Poisons Board - the government authority which approves and registers medicines before they can be marketed for use in Kenya - was "extremely slow", the statement said. "They act as if there is no emergency in Kenya," Jon Wasonga, another coalition member, said. HIV/AIDS has been declared a national disaster in Kenya. Official figures indicate that 500 people in the country die daily of AIDS.