Two countries in West Africa have announced substantial cuts in the cost of antiretroviral drugs this month. Cote d’Ivoire is to cut the cost of triple therapy to around $3.33 a month as a result of a US grant, whilst Gabon has cut the cost of treatment to $4 a month for the unemployed and $10 a month for civil servants as a result of a grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
Cote d’Ivoire
The government of Cote d’Ivoire announced earlier this month that it intends to provide ARV therapy to 77,000 people living with AIDS at a cost to the patient of just 20,000 CFA francs (US $40) per year.
Health Minister Albert Mabri Toikeuse said the government's new AIDS policy included free HIV testing for those who volunteer and free ARV therapy for pregnant mothers and children up to five years old.
The health minister also announced a new subsidised 2,500 CFA franc ($5) consultation fee for people seeking treatment for infectious diseases.
Local surveys have shown that a high proportion of people seeking treatment for infectious diseases are HIV-positive. At Treichville University Teaching Hospital, about 75 percent of the 3,000 in-patients treated each year by the infectious diseases department are HIV-positive.
Doctors' consultations in Cote d'Ivoire are expensive by African standards, ranging in price from 5,000 to 10,000 CFA francs ($10 to $20), so the subsidised fee for infectious diseases should encourage more people living with AIDS to come forward for treatment.
Toikeuse also announced that the government would open more HIV testing centres and health clinics specially equipped to treat AIDS-related illnesses.
“We are celebrating a good event,” Cyriaque Ako, the spokesman for the Ivorian Network of People Living with AIDS, told PlusNews.
However, the head of one local NGO, who asked not to be identified, warned that the distribution of ARV drugs could be delayed because of government arrears in paying local pharmacies for supplies already delivered to hospitals and patients.
According to official government statistics, Cote d'Ivoire has an HIV prevalence rate of 9.5 percent. However, many health workers fear that two years after a civil war split the country in two, the real rate is now much higher.
The Presidential Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) aims to help provide ARV therapy to 77,000 Ivorians living with AIDS by 2008, prevent 265,000 new infections and cater for 385,000 AIDS orphans.
Gabon
At present, 1,600 people receive subsidised antiretroviral therapy in Gabon, where according to government statistics 7.7 percent of the population is HIV-positive.
"With the reduction of ARV price, the government hopes to increase the number of people receiving ARV treatment by 1000 patients a year," Doctor Gabriel Malonga, the director of the government's National Campaign to Fight AIDS (PNLS), told Plus News.
On average, the government is now subsidising 90 percent of the cost of ARV treatment. Since the cheaper drugs were introduced at the beginning of April, the number of people seeking the therapy has soared.
"Right now, there are 75 more patients awaiting treatment in Libreville, 40 in Port Gentil and 40 in Franceville. This is already very much higher than the increase of 55 per month we had previously registered," Malonga said.
The grant from the Global Fund has also allowed the government to cut the cost of AIDS screening.
In the capital Libreville, which is home to half the population of Gabon, the PNLS has launched a centre for voluntary and anonymous HIV testing which charges students 1,000 CFA (US$2) and all others 2,500 CFA (US$5).