Money released for HIV/AIDS drugs

The Global AIDS Fund has released a US $52 million grant for the provision of HIV/AIDS drugs in Kenya's public hospitals, local newspaper The East African Standard reported on Saturday. The country's Minister of Health, Charity Ngilu, said the bulk of the money would be used to make antiretroviral drugs available to some 5,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. Ngilu said: "The need to have more than one drug in the anti-AIDS war is crucial to the success of the fight. The drugs, especially generics from India, Brazil and Pakistan will be made available in public hospitals soon." She said the grant would be channelled through the Constituency AIDS Committees as opposed to the current situation where most of the money was spent on "irrelevant seminars in urban hotels". "The donors are concerned about the way HIV/AIDS money has been used in the past, with most of the money being spent on administration and salaries," she added.