Thailand to get cheap AIDS drugs
Thailand has announced it will offer anti-retroviral drugs fo rthe treatment of HIV/AIDS to all infected Thais, at virtually no cost to the patient.
The drugs will be available on the government's 30 baht healthcare scheme, with treatments costing just under $1.
There are estimated to be approximately 500,000 HIV-positive people in Thailand.
The Thai government has piorneered the production of cheap genetic drugs to combat HIV/AIDS. The drugs have already been made available under pilot schemes to some low-income groups, but now they will be available to all who need them.
In the past, the complicated cocktail of drugs used in treatments had been too expensive to distribut widely. But the combining a combination of those drugs in one pill, the Thai government's Pharmaceutical Organization has managed to produce a cheap treatment for HIV.AIDS which can be easily prescribed and monitored.
The one-pill treatment, based on the genetic drug GPO/VIR, becomes available on the government's subsidised healthcare scheme in October.
Thailnd has laready started to export is anti-retroviral drugs to neighboring countries like Cambodia, an dthe government is currently considering offering the technology to several African nations.
Source: BCC News, 14 July 2005
posted by Prawate at Saturday, July 23, 2005
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