Uganda this month became one of the first African countries to provide free antiretroviral treatment, using a loan from the World Bank to purchase $1.3 million- worth of antiretrovirals for 2700 patients unable to pay $30 a month for imported generic products. 15,000 Ugandans are already obtaining treatment by various means, chiefly through purchase of drugs.
A further $9.3 million from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria will be used to buy antiretroviral drugs in the next year, and the Ugandan government anticipates signing a grant agreement for $70 million with the Global Fund this year that will increase the number of people receiving antiretroviral drugs from 10,000 to 30,000 through a public private partnership in 26 facilities.
Uganda’s plans are ambitious. The 26 treatment centres will be linked to primary and district health care facilities by a referral pathway, and the centres will be equipped to carry out resistance testing.
According to the health ministry, the country's main hospital at Mulago hill in the capital, Kampala, will initially get 300 doses. The regional referral hospitals allocated the drugs are: Arua, Gulu, Fort Portal, Jinja, Kabale, Masaka, Mbale, Mbarara, Soroti, Lira and Hoima. Each will initially receive 150 doses, except Arua and Masaka, which will get 100 each.
Parallel to hospital allocations, 150 doses are being given to civil servants. Four other district hospitals - Kaabong, Rakai, Sembabule, Kalangala and three missionary hospitals, Lacor, Kalongo and Nyakibale, will get 50 doses each while the Bombo and Mbuya military hospitals will each be given 100 doses. The police force and prisons department will each receive 50 doses.
Health Minister Jim Muhwezi said a number of private clinics had also been certified to distribute the drugs, but at these private outlets, patients would have to pay for them.