The Ugandan government on Sunday launched a cheaper one-pill-a-day drug for HIV treatment, marking an advancement in its fight against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Cipla Quality Chemical Industries, Ltd, in Uganda is the proud manufacturer of the new drug, a triple cocktail (Efavirenz, Lamivudine and Tenofavir) HIV drugs. The single-dose Trioday treatment, which costs only $13 per month, replaces the cumbersome 12-drug cocktails that used to be the only option for people with the fatal human immunodeficiency virus.
“We are reaching the phase of the end of the HIV epidemic in Uganda and the region. We had never dreamed about this in 30 to 40 years back,” said Ugandan Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, who launched the drug on behalf of President Yoweri Museveni.
Uganda has a large burden of HIV and AIDS: based on UNAIDS estimates, there were 1,500,000 Ugandans living with HIV in 2012 with 1,400,000 being among adults and 100,000 being children. Women are dis-proportionally affected by the epidemic because only 44% of the adults infected were men. In 2012, there were 140,000 new infections in the country with 86% being among adults while 14% was among newly born babies. Furthermore, 63,000 persons living with HIV (PLHIV) were estimated to have died of AIDS related causes in 2012.
These statistics imply that 383 Ugandans get infected
with HIV on a daily basis, and an additional 173 people die due to AIDS related
causes every day. In general, AIDS is one of the major causes of morbidity in
the county. According to the 2008 Service Delivery Survey by Uganda Bureau of
Statistics, HIV/AIDS accounted for 14% of all visits to the health facilities.
