Kampala — Uganda will by next year be the largest provider of anti retroviral drugs on the continent, UN Special Envoy on HIV in Africa Mr Stephen Lewis has said.

Addressing the press at the World Health Organisation (WHO) offices in Kampala, Friday, Lewis said 60,000 people would access the costly drugs in Uganda by next year, up from 15,000 today. About 150,000 Ugandans urgently need the drugs.

He was quoting administrators at the Joint Clinical Research Centre in Mengo, one of the leading distributors of the drugs in the country.

A monthly dose of the anti retrovirals currently sells at $23 (about Shs 45,000) at the centre, while it goes for $36 (about Shs 72,000) in other places.

The JCRC is also planning to bring the drug prices further down to $15 (about Shs 30,000) a dose per month.

Lewis has been on a five-day visit to Uganda in the company of former Mozambican and South African first lady, Ms Graca Machel.

The two visited different projects on HIV/Aids in Kampala, Masaka and Rakai districts.

They also met with President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday evening.

"The demand for treatment everywhere we went was palpable. Everywhere in Africa, people used to demand for food, now it is treatment," Lewis said at the end of his visit.

"Prevention is improved when treatment is availed. I cannot emphasise enough how important that is," he added.

He also said Uganda's recent proposals to the struggling Global Fund for HIV/Aids, TB and Malaria would most likely be approved in October.

He said government had requested for $66m (Shs116.8b) from the Global Fund to purchase anti retrovirals for its people.

Another $56m (about Shs 99.1b) would be used for orphan programmes in the country. Lewis said he expected some of the money to be approved.

"What drives me personally crazy is the fact that it takes so little. I saw a three-year plan costing $1.5m to address the orphan problem in Rakai. They [rich nations] spend $1.2m on a meeting," he said.

Machel was also concerned about the number of orphans in the country.

She described her trip to Uganda as "overwhelming and emotionally draining" adding "It will take me a long time to digest and assimilate the lessons I have learnt here."

She appealed to government to widen opportunities for orphans, instead of just providing them with basic skills. Uganda has 2.5 million orphans (10% of the population), mainly due to HIV/Aids.