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UNICEF to take over ARVs imports

    JOHANNESBURG

    In a bid to alleviate Zimbabwe's current shortage of anti-AIDS drugs, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will take over the importing of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) from the health ministry.

    National AIDS Council (NAC) executive director Dr Tapuwa Magure announced that the Zim $30 billion earmarked for the procurement of ARVs would be handed over to UNICEF to "improve the supply of ARVs in the country", the Herald reported.

    But AIDS activist Lisungu Chieza, of the Vital Hope Support Group, expressed concern over the long-term sustainability of the arrangement, "because ARVs have to be taken for life and we cannot afford to stop treatment halfway due to the danger of resistance to the drugs".

    The shortage of foreign currency in the country has been blamed for the dearth of ARVs in the country. Varichem, the country's main manufacturer of ARVs, has currently been receiving little or no money at all from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

    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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