Tanzania Aims To Triple Number of People With Antiretroviral Access by 2010, Health Minister Says

Tanzania plans to triple the number of HIV-positive people with access to antiretroviral drugs in the country to 440,000 by 2010, Health Minister David Mwakyusa said on Monday, Reuters South Africa reports. "We plan on providing antiretroviral therapies to 250,000 people by the end of this year, 350,000 by the end of 2009 and 440,000 by the end of 2010," Mwakyusa said, adding that 150,000 people currently are registered for treatment in the country. Mwakyusa made the comments at a ceremony to lay the foundation for a new testing laboratory in the capital of Dar es Salaam. The lab is the first in a series of 23 to be constructed by 2010 at the cost of $10 million. The project has received support from the Abbott Fund, according to Reuters South Africa. The government in early 2007 announced that it aimed to increase the number of people with antiretroviral access to 450,000 by the end of 2008. About 2,000 were reached with drugs when the government began its treatment program in 2004. About two million people are living with HIV in Tanzania, which has a population of almost 40 million (Obulutsa, Reuters South Africa, 7/28).