No word on treatment plan - NGO

Zambia's Central Board of Health (CBoH) in February announced a country-wide HIV/AIDS drug roll-out would begin within six weeks. However, The Network of Zambian People Living With HIV/AIDS (NZP+) on Friday said despite the six-week launch period being so close, there was still no word from the government. "There is very little communication between the government and AIDS NGOs on the matter. The last we heard was that a supply of antiretrovirals were in storage," NZP+ chairman, Martin Chisulo, told the UN news service PlusNews. Chisulo said drugs "sitting somewhere gathering dust" were of no use to the large numbers of people dying everyday. Meanwhile, over 1,000 HIV-positive individuals recruited between 1991 and 1996 for AIDS research this week accused the government of breaking a promise to compensate them with antiretrovirals.