Lusaka — Those who initiate any measures that increase our people's access to HIV drugs and treatment deserve credit.

And with the government's declaration of a period of five years as emergency in terms of HIV/AIDS, we only hope that many of those who need treatment will now have easy access to it.

With the new measures aimed at reducing the cost of AIDS treatment, we hope there will be no administrative deficiencies on the part of government that will hinder our people's access to drugs and treatment, especially those who live in rural areas, since access at the moment seems to be concentrated on urban areas.

And the serious social and economic breakdowns that HIV/AIDS is causing in our communities should make it more compelling for the government to quickly roll-out ARV treatment to all those who need it.

Notwithstanding the economic constraints that our country faces today, it's sad that only 12,000 people are on treatment while hundreds of thousands of Zambians living with HIV still have no access to these life-saving drugs. It's unacceptable to have only 12,000 people on treatment when about 870,000 of our citizens are living with HIV. To give more hope and encouragement to those living with HIV/AIDS, measures that guarantee unlimited ARV treatment are necessary.

Even more, the launch of ARV programmes introduces the possibility of changing widespread perceptions of HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a disease that cannot only be lived with, but also survived. It also increases the possibility of reducing the HIV/AIDS stigma.

Furthermore, experience has shown that access to free HIV/AIDS treatment has not only lessened the disease burden in most countries such as Brazil and Thailand which have free AIDS treatment programmes, it has also significantly reduced mortality due to HIV/AIDS.

But at the moment, even the K40,000 required in public hospitals for ARV treatment is out of the reach of the poor, especially the rural poor.

Just last month, there was a report that only two people were on ARVs in North-Western Province's Kasempa district.

Clearly, this shows that besides the limited focus of the government programmes on hospitals in urban areas, the rural poor are miles away in terms of access to ARV treatment. The rural people are completely cut off in terms of access to life-saving treatment. Most rural people have no stable sources of income, making it extremely difficult for them to spare K40,000 every month for ARVs.

We are saying this because we know that health minister Dr Brian Chituwo is on record as having said that some districts would for some time have no access to ARVs as the government was currently dealing with the "fire that is burning" in Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces where HIV/AIDS prevalence is highest.

We strongly feel that even the areas that have exhibited a low prevalence rate need attention.

However, this is not to say that we do not acknowledge the efforts that the government is making in availing treatment to those in need. Given the limited resources, the government has made some strides in terms of meeting some of the targets it has set to rollout the ARVs programme. We have noted that the government has already managed to exceed its initial 10,000 target as 12,000 people are now on ARV treatment. But because we know that more people need treatment, we feel that more is required and more can, and should, be done in this area.

This is why we hope that with the signing of the Statutory Instrument by the Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Zambia will start manufacturing cheaper generic drugs which we hope will be accessible at no, or very low, cost.

Anti-retroviral treatment offers patients the possibility to regain their health, to live normally, to live as long as possible, to work, and to take care of their families. And the cheaper the AIDS drugs are made, the more lives will be saved.

And we hope the government's recognition of HIV/AIDS as an emergency will add impetus to our country's fight against the horrible HIV virus - a fight that we have to win at all costs.