Two months of AIDS drugs left in hospitals
Published:Thursday | June 30, 2011 | 12:00 AM
MBABANE (AP):
Cash-strapped Swazi-land's state hospitals have only two months' supplies of AIDS drugs, the country's health minister has told parliament in an assessment that AIDS patients and activists took as a death sentence.
State media yesterday quoted Health Minister Benedict Xaba as making the remarks to parliament a day before. He blamed the country's economic crisis, linked to a drop in customs revenues amid a worldwide recession.
More than 60,000 Swazis depend on anti-retroviral AIDS drugs, known as ARVs, distributed free at government hospitals.
Swaziland, with a population of about 1 million, has the world's highest percentage of people living with the virus that causes AIDS. More than a quarter of Swazis between the ages of 15 and 49 are believed to carry HIV.