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ARVs in short supply

A shortage of free anti-AIDS drugs (ARVs) in Uganda is forcing some treatment centres to cut back on their targets, activists said on Monday. Beatrice Were, of the international relief NGO, ActionAid, said no drugs had been procured since monies from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria were suspended in August 2005 for the mismanagement of funds. According to the local Daily Monitor newspaper, Sam Okuonzi, the programme coordinator for the Global Fund caretaker management firm, Ernst and Young, confirmed the looming scarcity of ARVs, but added that plans to procure more drugs were underway. Official figures showed that some 78,000 Ugandans were currently accessing the life-prolonging drugs, out of an estimated 140,000 who needed them.

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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