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AIDS drug rollout hampered by staff shortage

    JOHANNESBURG

    Serious staff and equipment shortages are preventing Mozambique from launching a national anti-AIDS drug programme.

    Health Minister Francisco Songane said many of the estimated 120,000 HIV-positive people who were "urgently" in need of antiretroviral treatment did not have access to the drugs.

    Approximately 1.5 million of the country's 18 million population are living with HIV/AIDS.

    Songane was quoted by Reuters as saying: "It is simply impossible to imagine that we can distribute [antiretrovirals] countrywide; we do not have the capacity to do that; we do not have the trained manpower or the infrastructure to handle such a massive programme."

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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