Open AccessAn appeal for large scale production of antiretroviral drugs in Africa
Author(s) -
Nkamedjie Pete Patrick Martial,
Isidore Sieleunou
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the pan african medical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.287
H-Index - 30
ISSN - 1937-8688
DOI - 10.11604/pamj.2016.25.18.10658
Subject(s) - medicine , economic growth , government (linguistics) , pandemic , sustainability , antiretroviral treatment , politics , millennium development goals , scale (ratio) , development economics , public health , developing country , distribution (mathematics) , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , scarcity , antiretroviral therapy , covid-19 , economics , political science , disease , immunology , nursing , viral load , market economy , philosophy , mathematics , law , ecology , mathematical analysis , linguistics , pathology , biology , quantum mechanics , physics , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) remains a major global public health challenge especially in Africa. The deadline set for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has elapsed, meanwhile most low and middle income countries did not reach the targets. With regards to the fight against HIV / AIDS, many African countries show slow progress in implementing efficient and effective strategies to counter this pandemic. The fact that most HIV/AIDS programs in Sub-Saharan African countries are still very dependent on external funding to carry out their activities, including the supply of Antiretroviral Treatment (ART), highlights the concern of sustainability. So far, solutions that have been proposed are mainly symptomatic, claiming more budget commitment from government. Without rejecting this view, we call for the implementation of sustainable solutions to deal with the long term ART challenges. A way forward is to promote the establishment of an effective machinery for the manufacturing and large scale distribution of ART. In addition to the health gains, we argue that such an initiative would have a three-dimensional impact: (i) political, (ii) economic and (iii) social.