Strengthened health systems needed for AIDS - AMREF

The international NGO Africa Medical and Relief Foundation (AMREF), this week called for strengthened health care systems, including more health workers, to improve HIV prevention, care and treatment in Africa. Citing the latest UNAIDS figures, AMREF said only 11 percent of people in Africa that needed antiretroviral (ARV) treatment were receiving it, despite undisputed scientific evidence that the drugs prolonged the lives of HIV-positive people. "We need to have more trained doctors in sub-district hospitals in Africa or we need to train health staff at a lower level, such as nurses and clinical officers, to be able to administer AIDS treatment," Peter Ngatia, AMREF’s Director of Learning Systems, said in a statement. AMREF has urged African governments to invest more in their health systems, train more health workers, and for the international community to end conditions attached to grants, loans and debt relief that force African countries to cut health spending.