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Zim prisoners, rural women fail to access AIDS drugs
Prince Nyathi, ZimOnline
November 29, 2007

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2391

HARARE - Prisoners and rural women in Zimbabwe are failing to access life-prolonging AIDS drugs despite the country making huge strides in reducing HIV prevalence rates, says a new report by an international treatment group.

The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), that advocates free access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), said prisoners and rural women were failing to access the drugs due to poverty and lack of information.

The report, titled, "Missing the Target 5: Improving AIDS Drugs Access and Advancing Health Care for All," says prisoners in Zimbabwean jails were among the hardest hit due to a severe economic crisis gripping the country.

The report adds that Zimbabwe's prison population was "the most neglected and vulnerable group" in the country adding that out of the estimated 20 000 prisoners in Zimbabwean jails, at least 4 000 were infected and susceptible to HIV and TB.

"With no sero-prevalence survey or statistics on HIV in prisons, experts warn that the country could be sitting on a time bomb," warns the report that was released to the media on Tuesday.

The group said the majority of HIV infected rural women were failing to access ARVs forcing most of the women to resort to herbal treatments to manage their health.

"Many of those in rural areas or with limited resources have opted to manage their symptoms with herbal treatments," said the report.

Zimbabwe has one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world with the pandemic killing an estimated 2 500 people in the country every week.

The AIDS crisis has been worsened by a severe economic recession that has manifested itself in rampant poverty, massive unemployment and poverty.

The economic crisis has hit hardest Zimbabwe's prisons and health delivery system with reports suggesting that prisoners were surviving on a single meal of boiled cabbages and the staple sadza a day.

An estimated 1.3 million people are said to be living with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe with 132 000 being children below the age of 14 while over 650 000 are women.

Of these, only 91 000 people were on the government's ARV free treatment programme.

In the only few pieces of good news to come from Zimbabwe, Health Minister David Parirenyatwa last month said Zimbabwe's HIV prevalence rate had declined from 18.1 percent to 15.6 percent.

Parirenyatwa attributed the success to a vigorous AIDS awareness campaign carried out by the Harare authorities.

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