HIV/AIDS patients in northern Ugandan would now be able to access from Gulu District hospital anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) used to treat the disease, 'The New Vision' reported on Wednesday. The government-owned newspaper quoted Director-General of Health Services Francis Omaswa as saying the introduction of the drugs into Gulu hospital was part of a plan drawn up by the ministry of health to make ARVs available in all Uganda's main hospitals at "affordable charges". The government had already started giving Nevirapine - a drug that could reduce mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission by up to 50 percent - free to HIV-positive pregnant women, Omaswa added. Director-General of the Uganda Aids Commission Dr David Kihumoro Apuuli said on 5 October that HIV/AIDS had now overtaken malaria as the leading cause of death among adults in Uganda, and had claimed over 800,000 Ugandan lives so far.
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