The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Gerald Gwinji revealed last week that the country will likely face a shortage of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs possibly in 2019 or 2020. Said Gwinji:
Zimbabwe’s HIV programme is doing extremely well with nearly 1,3 million on treatment and uptake of around 8 000 new clients per month. This growth comes with its own challenges that we have to continuously deal with.
One such area is around commodities, including ARVs. We proactively monitor and analyse trends to be better informed about future needs and potential challenges so that we anticipate these and strategies on the solutions.
Therefore, looking at our initiations and the amount for ARVs needed for 2019 and 2020 versus the available resources, we expect a deficit or gap in the ARVS area.