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Declining price of HIV/AIDS drugs a saving grace
Lynne Altenroxel. 17 September 2003. The Star. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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South Africa's proposed programme to treat HIV/AIDS patients could cost R2-billion less a year than anticipated.
This is according to the Clinton Foundation AIDS Initiative, which is assisting the government's national HIV and AIDS treatment task team in making plans to provide anti-retrovirals in state hospitals and clinics.
The Star is in possession of a letter to the department of health, signed by Clinton Foundation chairperson Ira Magaziner and dated July 31.
In it, Magaziner praises the "quality and thoroughness" of the financial report estimating the cost of providing anti-AIDS drugs in South Africa.
This financial report was behind last month's cabinet decision to set up the task team, which must provide an operational plan for treating HIV patients by the end of this month.
It argues that it would cost less money to provide anti-retrovirals (between R7 435 and R8 825 each to gain an extra year of life) than to treat growing numbers of AIDS patients in hospital (at a cost of R10 934 each to gain an extra year of life).
Now it appears that the savings could be even greater than the financial report estimated. According to the Clinton Foundation missive, the recommendations made in the financial report would result in "a world-class quality of care for South Africa's people" if they were implemented properly.
But the letter states that the report has overestimated the cost of providing the drugs. The report estimates that HIV/AIDS treatment would cost about R5,6-billion in the first year, but would gradually increase to between R16,9-billion and R21,4-billion a year by 2010.
The Clinton Foundation estimates that if the drugs are obtained at the lowest possible price, "the cost of the programme would decrease by over R2-billion per year when fully implemented".
This is because the price of anti-retrovirals is expected to come down.
"Since the report was written, prices have declined even beyond those listed as best international prices in the report," the letter states. "And the report assumes no continued price declines over time - a very conservative assumption." |
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