ZIMBABWE: Premature deaths from treatable HIV-related diseases

People living with HIV/AIDS are dying prematurely of opportunistic infections that can be easily treated by available drugs, a Zimbabwe AIDS NGO has found. The Women and AIDS Support Network (WASN) had seen many cases of patients dying within a week from HIV-related diseases such as pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, the state-controlled newspaper, The Herald reported. "Pneumonia is a major killer of people living with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe, and yet there is an affordable drug called cotrimoxazole that was proved could treat pneumonia," WASN information officer Mathilda Moyo, was quoted as saying. Despite the known benefits of cotrimoxazole, the drug was not widely used as people living with HIV/AIDS lacked information about such interventions, the report said. Poverty, however, had also exacerbated the situation, Moyo noted. The country's worsening food shortages have made HIV-positive people even more vulnerable to infections, as many cannot afford to buy enough food to strengthen their immune systems.