Harare, 10 July 2003 -- A number of African countries are instituting measures to improve access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), it emerged at a workshop for health professionals from *17 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa taking place from 7 to 10 July in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Botswana, regarded as one of the hottest spots for HIV/AIDS in Africa, unveiled a programme for making ART available to about 110,000 eligible people. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has matured in Botswana which has an estimated 300,000 people infected, 35% of them aged between 15 and 49.

Giving the details of the ART programme, the Deputy Head of the National ARV Project Team in Botswana's Health Ministry, Mr. Segolame Ramotlhwa, said that six considerations informed the approach being used for scaling up access to ART in the country.

These are: the presence of AIDS and/or the use of CD4 count of 200 or less in patients as eligibility criteria; the establishment of dedicated implementation teams and supporting structures; building initial capacity in four strategically located centres; monitoring early uptake and adjusting eligibility criteria; nation-wide capacity building, and ensuring the concurrent strengthening of prevention initiatives.

Between January 2002 and May this year, treatment sites were established in six centers: Gaborone, Francistown, Serowe, Maun, Jwaneng and Orapa.

The plan for scaling up and expanding access to ART services in Botswana will see the addition of four new sites in 2003, the identification of 10 potential sites over the next two years and the extension of facilities to two mining hospitals and three Botswana Defence Force facilities.

Zambia for its part, is in the process of implementing a programme of phased ART access, initially targeting 10,000 people PLWHA in the country, according to Dr Valepi Mtonga, Director of Clinical Care and Diagnostic Services at Zambia's Central Board of Health. Implementation of the programme would cost US$9 million per year.

An estimated 900,000 Zambians are HIV-positive, and approximately 250,000 of these require ART.

With regard to Uganda, the Programme Manager of the country's AIDS Control Programme, Dr Elizabeth Madraa, said that of the estimated 650,000 Ugandans who are HIV-positive, 12,000 patients currently had access to ART. The country has 22 facilities which provide ART services.

Uganda is regarded as one of Africa's success stories in HIV/AIDS prevention and control. After an initial pilot project in collaboration with UNAIDS, ART was integrated into the Ministry of Health's programme offering comprehensive AIDS care and support in 2001.

The three-day workshop is developing country-specific road maps for scaling up and implementing care and treatment services .It will also identify actions to be taken by development partners in support of countries.

Organized by the WHO Regional Office for Africa in collaboration with WHO Headquarters in Geneva, UNAIDS, and the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community, the workshop is being attended by participants from Angola, Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya Mozambique, Seychelles, Mauritius, Swaziland, Lesotho, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe

For further information, please contact

Samuel T. Ajibola
Public Information and Communication Unit 
World Health Organization - Regional Office for Africa 
P.O. Box 6 Brazzaville, Congo.

E-mail: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int
Tel:+ 47 241 39378; Fax: + 47 241 39513
Tel. in Harare: 091 231 405