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Ethiopia to Import HIV/AIDS Drugs at Affordable Prices
The Ethiopian Health Ministry has decided to import HIV/AIDS drugs at affordable prices and devise various methods that would enable adequate distribution of the drugs, a senior government official said Monday.
Dagnachew Hailemariam, head of the National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Secretariat, said that the ministry is currently negotiating with pharmaceutical companies to lower their existing prices and at the same time mobilize support from donor organizations to sponsor poor people that are in need of the drugs.
"Most of them are not in a position to afford buying the medicines so our efforts go to the extent of finding ways of distributing the drugs for free," said Dagnachew.
Since the treatment should be on daily basis without interruption, import the drugs alone would not be enough, he said, adding that acquiring sophisticated laboratory equipment to inspect users' reaction to the drugs is also a medical requisite.
Dagnachew's remark came in the wake of the entering of illegally HIV/AIDS drugs in the country. About 15 percent of the Ethiopian population is reportedly being infected with HIV/AIDS.
In the African Horn, the medicines at present cost a minimum of around 625 U.S. dollars for an annual treatment per head.
It is unthinkable to supply the drugs with this price considering the existing Ethiopian per capita income, Dagnachew said.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Pharmacists Association has declared that the association has set an agenda to discuss the issue of distributing HIV/AIDS drugs within the framework of the ministry's green light to import the medicine.
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