Government to provide AIDS drugs

HIV positive mothers and rape survivors will soon receive anti-AIDS drugs at public health facilities throughout the kingdom, the Swazi government has announced. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini said the treatment would be extended in due course to all people living with HIV/AIDS, according to local news reports. But an official in the Ministry of Health, who did not want to be named, told PlusNews on Monday that implementation of the plan would not happen immediately. "We have to be careful and not get too excited, there are still many things we have to do before all this happens." Health workers were being trained to ensure they are able to provide patients with adequate treatment and care. Voluntary testing and counselling centres would also be expanded, the official said. "The regulations and guidelines on treatment have been prepared, we are almost ready," he said. The resources available would determine the speed of the implementation, Dlamini was also reported as saying. AIDS groups welcomed the government's announcement, but raised concerns that there were no concrete plans in place yet. "The minister is talking about these drugs but he hasn't answered some important questions," Primrose Fakuse of Swaziland's AIDS Support Organisation (SASO), told PlusNews. She said: "This is a long process and they need to consider things such as evaluation and monitoring of patients. At the moment in Swaziland there are very few doctors and nurses who are ready for this." Fakuse called for government to consult local NGOs and groups representing people living with HIV/AIDS, to facilitate the process. "We all need to get involved because our people are dying, they need these drugs they don't want us to just talk about them," she added.