[stop-imf] Zambia to put Debt Relief into AIDS fight--ARV drugs for 100,000 people

[robert weissman]

Zambia to put debt relief into AIDS fight

20 Jun 2005 12:14:16 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Shapi Shacinda

LUSAKA, June 20 (Reuters) - Zambia will use millions of dollars freed up
by debt relief to provide AIDS drugs for 100,000 people by the end of
the year, a minister said on Monday.

Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande said the plan to provide free
anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) was approved by cabinet last week after
Zambia received additional debt relief from the Group of Eight (G8) rich
nations.

Magande also said the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, founded by

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, had given Zambia $35 million to fight
malaria, which the Treasury says kills more people than AIDS.

He said the government had scrapped a 40,000 Zambian kwacha ($9) fee
which people receiving ARVs were previously required to pay each month.

"We realised that people were even unable to go for testing let alone
pay the small fee to access the ARVs. We want to raise the number of
people receiving free drugs to 100,000 by the end of the year," Magande
told Reuters in an interview.

Transport costs to AIDS testing centres are prohibitive for some people
in rural areas.

Zambia is now treating just over 13,000 people with life-prolonging ARVs.

Health officials estimate 920,000 Zambians are infected with HIV, and
200,000 have debilitating chronic illnesses as a result of infection.

  Magande said the government would use part of the $192 million from the
Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis and a $45 million World
Bank grant to provide free AIDS drugs.

"Some of the money saved from debt relief will also be used to provide
free AIDS drugs," Magande said, without providing further details.

Magande said Zambia was keen to fight AIDS and malaria, which have been
described as the two major killers in Zambia, an impoverished Southern
African nation of about 10 million people.

The government has previously said malaria kills more people than AIDS
each year.

"We have also received $35 million (grant) from the Bill (& Melinda)
Gates Foundation which will enable us to scale up the fight against
malaria,"
Magande said.

In April, the IMF approved Zambia's $4 billion debt relief package after
the country met conditions for sustained good economic management under
the initiative for highly indebted poor countries, a global plan to
cancel debts owed by some poor nations.

On Sunday, Magande said Zambia projected it would receive an additional
$2.5 billion in debt relief after the G8 nations cancelled 100 percent
debts owed to multilateral lending institutions by 18 poor nations,
including Zambia.