Johannesburg
SOUTH AFRICA
South
Africa said it is introducing an affordable, cutting-edge drug to fight HIV in
the country with the largest number of people living with the AIDS-causing
virus.
Hailing the new anti-retroviral drug as "the
fastest way to reduce HIV viral load", the health department said it will
start rolling out the advanced pill known as TLD on December 1 international
World Aids Day.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize unveiled the
pioneering drug at a ceremony in southwestern KwaZulu-Natal, the province with
the country's highest prevalence rates, where more than a quarter of the
population is infected.
The new three-in-one pill, developed with the
financial backing of global health development organisation Unitaid, bands
together the drugs tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine and dolutegravir.
Dolutegravir is the preferred first-line and
second-line treatment recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and
is already the drug of choice in high-income countries.
Unitaid's Director of Operations Robert Matiru said
the new TLD drug "is highly effective and has much more rapid viral
suppression" than the current treatment regime.
"It has fewer side effects in general and is
much more resilient and also is even cheaper," he said.
The fixed dose, one pill combination is hoped to
make it easier and more affordable for those suffering with the virus to begin
and stay on treatment.
Unitaid said the price would start at USD75 per
person per year and could drop lower, creating savings that could allow up to
five million more people to receive treatment.
South Africa accounts for more than 10 percent of
all HIV-related deaths and 15 percent of new infections, according to Unitaid.
The country has the world's largest HIV treatment
programme, delivering anti-retroviral treatment to some 4.8 million people.
But at least 7.7 million South Africans are living
with HIV, with the highest prevalence among adults aged 15 to 49 years.
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