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"AIDS medicine cheaper
now"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(13/07/05)
NEW YORK: The Malaysian Government has done
much to reduce the cost of antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of
HIV/AIDS patients, said Malaysian AIDS Council president Datin Paduka Marina
Mahathir.
This was done through pressure on drug companies and through bringing in
generics from India, she said.
“And they are providing a lot of it virtually free to Malaysians living with
HIV/AIDS through government hospitals,” she said in an interview in the
latest issue of Therapeutics Research, Education, AIDS Training (TREAT)
Asia, produced in New York.
TREAT Asia is a network of clinics, hospitals and research institutions
working to ensure the safe and effective delivery of HIV/AIDS treatments
throughout Asia and the Pacific.
Marina said the Health Ministry was looking at issuing licences for the
manufacture of three-in-one combination drugs in Malaysia.
She also said the Malaysian AIDS Council was working with religious leaders,
particularly Muslim leaders, to tackle the scourge.
The council had developed a training manual on HIV for religious leaders and
was going around the country holding workshops and training.
On educating children about AIDS, Marina said the council was working with
the Curriculum Development Centre of the Education Ministry to see how HIV
education could be introduced into the curriculum.
On the biggest obstacles to containing or overcoming AIDS in Asia, Marina
said that denial was the biggest problem.
“The one area where some progress is being made, even in Malaysia, is on
harm reduction.
“Much of HIV transmission in many parts of Asia is through injecting drug
use, and in the past year, I’ve been seeing a real change in the attitudes
of governments towards this.
“Before it was zero tolerance for drug use. That is changing in Indonesia,
it’s changing in Malaysia – we’re taking baby steps,” she said.
She said through this manner they were cautiously optimistic that they might
be able to do something about prevention among drug users
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