18 August 2004
Maputo — The Brazilian authorities have insisted that they still intend to build a pharmaceutical plant manufacturing anti-retroviral drugs in Mozambique, and that reports to the contrary result from a misunderstanding.
According to a press release signed by the Brazilian Ambassador to Mozambique, Leda Camargo, and received by AIM on Wednesday, the press reports result from a "misinterpretation" of a statement made by the director of Brazil's national AIDS programme, Pedro Chequer, during a press conference.
Anti-retroviral drugs do not cure AIDS, but they do reduce the viral load, and prolong the lives of AIDS sufferers. It is hoped that the drugs can turn AIDS into a manageable chronic illness, rather than an inevitably fatal one. Brazil has been a pioneer in producing generic versions of anti-retroviral drugs, that are much cheaper than the brand-name versions of the multinational pharmaceutical companies.
The agreement on the factory was signed during the visit to Mozambique last November of Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. Lula publicly claimed that the plans for the factory would be ready by the end of 2003, and that construction could then start at any moment. But so far there is no sign of any plans much less any construction.
Last week, Chequer was cited by the Portuguese News Agency Lusa, as declaring "It's not worth building a factory making anti-retrovirals in Mozambique, for it to become a white elephant".
But in a lengthy note, reproduced in full in the embassy's release, Chequer says that parts of what he told the journalists were taken "out of context", and reported in a "distorted" way.
Chequer explained that all he meant was that the plan to build the factory had to be preceded by a number of steps that included economic feasibility studies, assessment of the initiative's sustainability, a detailed project for the building work and the technologies to be used, and the identification of sources of funding.
Chequer's document noted that a Brazilian delegation visited Mozambique in June this year to discuss the various steps with the Mozambican health authorities, starting with the installation of a quality control laboratory, not only for anti-retrovirals, but also for any other drugs.
"Extending the initial plan will depend on the results of these studies, since the control of quality of drugs is an activity that can be implemented regardless of the local production of the drugs", wrote Chequer.
"Brazil reiterates its commitment to cooperate with the Mozambican government to strengthen its capacity, mainly by assisting in the training of technical staff and exchanging experiences and cooperating in seeking alternatives to include new professionals in the public network, which is one of the main constraints in the implementation of the national AIDS strategy", he said.
Chequer said that resources are available for the acquisition of anti-retroviral drugs, which were being offered to Mozambique at an extremely favourable price of 140 US dollars per patient per year. This was much lower than the prices charged in Brazil itself, he added.
The next sentence makes the deal look much less generous.
Chequer said that "Given the national plan, and the country's favourable conditions for acquiring anti-retroviral drugs, Brazil repeats its promise to guarantee the treatment of 100 patients, as established in the previous agreement".
Cheque admitted that this was "insignificant". It certainly is - over 1.4 million Mozambicans are HIV-positive, and the Health Ministry estimates that about 200,000 of them have reached the stage in the disease at which they require anti-retroviral therapy.
Currently between 3,000 and 4,000 Mozambicans are taking anti-retroviral drugs. In most cases these are generic versions of the drugs made in India, and distributed via the DREAM (Drug Resource Enhancement against AIDS and Malaria) programme, run and funded by the Italian NGO, the Sant'Egidio Community.
The Health Ministry hopes that by 2008, about 132,000 people will be on anti-retroviral treatment.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2004 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
