Strategy for ARV supply essential - AIDS Council

A senior official of Zambia's National AIDS Council (NAC) has urged the government to have a strategy in place to ensure the regular supply of anti-AIDS medication. According to the local Zambian Post newspaper, the acting director-general of NAC, Dr Rosemary Musonda, warned that with over one million HIV-positive people in the country, of which 200,000 need treatment, the government should be prepared to sustain the treatment programme without donor funding. She also noted that insurance companies were still refusing to cover HIV/AIDS treatment, despite the great need for such services. Musonda was quoted as saying, "We have to start investing in our health while we are still healthy. It's just unfortunate that we don't have insurance companies that are providing cover for HIV treatment, at a time when it is really needed."