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Zimbabwe runs out of TB drugs
ZimOnline
March 30, 2006

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=11883

HARARE - Cases of tuberculosis (TB) are on the increase in Zimbabwe as the country battles a severe foreign currency shortage to buy drugs to cure the disease, a senior health official told ZimOnline on Wednesday.

The official who refused to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the Press said most of the country's provinces have run out of drugs used in the treatment of the disease.

"The country has run out ethambutal, one of the four drugs used in the treatment of TB. So, most patients are currently taking incomplete treatment," said the official.

Zimbabwe uses the "combination therapy" where at least four drugs are administered to patients at once. The other three drugs - eyesonizid, rifamtitn and pyrazinamide - are also in short supply in the country due to the foreign currency shortages.

Contacted for comment, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare permanent secretary Edward Mabhiza denied TB treatment drugs were in short supply, saying while some districts could have run out of drugs, the situation at national level was under control.

According to the Zimbabwe Millennium Development Goals 2004 progress report, the incidence of TB increased from 121 cases per 100 000 people in 1991 to 399 cases per 100 000 in 2000.

The report also estimates that TB cases went up by about five fold in the last 15 years, from 9 132 cases in 1990 to 30 831 cases in 1995 and 51 918 cases in 2000.

Worsening poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic are said to have contributed to the resurgence of TB which thrives on weak immune systems. At least one in every four Zimbabweans is also said to be infected with HIV which causes AIDS.

A six-year old economic crisis - that began when the International Monetary Fund pulled out in 1999 and worsened after President Robert Mugabe destablised the mainstay agricultural sector with his farm seizure programme - has only helped compound the health crisis with essential medical drugs in critical short supply because there is no hard cash to pay foreign suppliers.

Food, fuel, electricity and nearly every basic survival commodity is in short supply also because there is no foreign currency to pay for imports. - ZimOnline.

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