Malawi calls for multifaceted approach to fight AIDS
May 1, 2006, from www.chinaview.cn
LILONGWE, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika on Monday observed that global efforts to fight HIV/AIDS would be fruitless if emphasis is only placed on the provision of life-prolonging drugs to infected people.
"Provision of affordable anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to infected persons must go hand in hand with boosting their nutritional capacities so that the drugs work well in their bodies," said Mutharika in the capital Lilongwe during activities marking Malawi's commemoration of Labor Day.
Mutharika said recent studies had shown that ARVs were only effective in bodies whose nutritional capacity was well enough compared to those people who did not have access to a good diet.
Malawi's Principal Secretary for HIV/AIDS and Nutrition, Mary Shawa, told Xinhua recently that nutritional capacity of most Malawians was low and the condition was worse among those infected with HIV.
"Progression of HIV among infected Malawians is being accelerated because of people's poor nutritional capacity, a situation that is making them require ARVs early enough," said Shawa.
Malawi, whose total number of HIV/AIDS infected people currently stands at about one million, has about 170,000 infected people who require HIV/AIDS drugs. The country has a total population of about 11.6 million people.
The government has managed to have close to 40,000 HIV positive people on free medication by December 2005 with assistance from the Global Fund.
Source: China View
LILONGWE, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika on Monday observed that global efforts to fight HIV/AIDS would be fruitless if emphasis is only placed on the provision of life-prolonging drugs to infected people.
"Provision of affordable anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to infected persons must go hand in hand with boosting their nutritional capacities so that the drugs work well in their bodies," said Mutharika in the capital Lilongwe during activities marking Malawi's commemoration of Labor Day.
Mutharika said recent studies had shown that ARVs were only effective in bodies whose nutritional capacity was well enough compared to those people who did not have access to a good diet.
Malawi's Principal Secretary for HIV/AIDS and Nutrition, Mary Shawa, told Xinhua recently that nutritional capacity of most Malawians was low and the condition was worse among those infected with HIV.
"Progression of HIV among infected Malawians is being accelerated because of people's poor nutritional capacity, a situation that is making them require ARVs early enough," said Shawa.
Malawi, whose total number of HIV/AIDS infected people currently stands at about one million, has about 170,000 infected people who require HIV/AIDS drugs. The country has a total population of about 11.6 million people.
The government has managed to have close to 40,000 HIV positive people on free medication by December 2005 with assistance from the Global Fund.
Source: China View
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 1:12 am
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