12 Apr New cheap pill to ‘revolutionize’ AIDS treatment
A new cheap pill introduced in South Africa could revolutionize treatment for HIV and AIDS patients.
The treatment, a three-in-one anti-retroviral called an ARV, costs only $10 (€7.65) per patient in a single dose.
Speaking to the Agence France-Presse, South African health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said: ‘Before 2010, we were buying the most expensive ARVs in the world.
‘Now we are a country where the ARVs are the cheapest in the world.’
South Africa is home to one of the world’s largest infected populations, with roughly 5.6 million people living with HIV and AIDS.
The new pill will be introduced this month to HIV-positive pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, people co-infected with tuberculosis, and to new patients.
The South African National AIDS Council welcomed the new pill, saying it hoped it would encourage patients to continue their treatment.
Fareed Abdullah, the CEO of South African National AIDS Council, said it would revolutionize and simplify the way patients have been used to taking their medication.
‘We have come a long way since the advent of anti-retrovirals. At one point, patients used to take up to 16 pills a day.’