HIV drug deal big boost

The granting of a licence to Kenya to manufacture an HIV-prevention drug for the African market is a healthy milestone. It will be one of three countries on the continent to produce the drug.

This is the first time African manufacturers are being licensed as part of the HIV medicine project right from the start. Pharmaceutical firm Merck is going to license seven generic drug makers to produce a low-cost version of a new monthly HIV-prevention pill.

It will be immediately available in the developing countries if the clinical trials to be conducted next year are successful. The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) is leading the study in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa.

Today, this country faces a grave public health challenge that has been described as the “triple threat” of new HIV infections, teenage pregnancies, and sexual and gender-based violence.

Nearly 1.48 million people are living with HIV, with the adult prevalence at 3.22 per cent. Young women and girls account for 65 per cent of all the new infections.

However, new annual HIV infections nationwide have dropped sharply by 82 per cent over the last decade, down to 13,936, which is a substantial achievement. But HIV/Aids remains one of the leading causes of illness and mortality.

Pneumonia and other lower respiratory infections and non-communicable diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular illnesses rank well ahead of HIV/Aids in many national and health facility mortality reports.

As President William Ruto pointed out in a speech during the just-ended UN General Assembly in New York, while Africa carries about a quarter of the world’s disease burden, it makes less than six per cent of its medical supplies. Making only one per cent of the vaccines, the continent is totally reliant on imports. This is now a great opportunity to make the vital medicine more readily accessible.

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