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Lewis demands increased AIDS treatment

    JOHANNESBURG

    It is "desperately urgent" that Mozambique reach its anti-AIDS treatment targets by the end of this year, according to the UN's Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis.

    Mozambican Health Minister Paulo Ivo Garrido announced plans in March to more than double the number of people receiving free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, to 50,000 by the end of 2006.

    However, official figures reflected that just 28,000 of the estimated 200,000 adults in immediate need of treatment were accessing the life-prolonging medication.

    "HIV/AIDS has thrust Mozambique into a grave crisis and, unless it is treated as an emergency, there will be a terrible price to pay. The government must move heaven and earth to roll out treatment in these next six months," Lewis said in the capital, Maputo.

    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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