The Venezuelan NGO Citizen Action against AIDS (ACCSI) said this Monday (30) that patients living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reported shortages of antiretroviral drugs in most parts of the country.
“We ask the Minister of Health, Magaly Gutiérrez, to intervene in this irregularity to ensure the distribution and immediate delivery of antiretroviral drugs to thousands of people with HIV from all regions of Venezuela,” the NGO said in a statement posted on its website.
The organization reiterated the importance of ensuring continuity of treatment for HIV-positive people, who thanks to these drugs can lead a productive life and, in many cases, become non-communicable carriers of the virus.
“The lives of people with HIV depend on antiretroviral drugs, which aim to control the replication of HIV in their bodies”, highlighted the NGO.
The executive director of ACCSI, Alberto Nieves, told Agência Efe that this shortage is occurring in most states in the country.
He also explained that the antiretrovirals are in Venezuela, in a warehouse managed by the Ministry of Health, in the central state of Miranda, however, so far, they have not been distributed to pharmacies in the public health system.
Nieves said he did not know the reasons why the distribution was not completed and, therefore, appeals to the Minister of Health to address the situation.
He explained that thanks to international cooperation, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in addition to Unicef, the country received donations of antiretroviral drugs, which benefited more than 60,000 people, including minors, women and men with HIV.
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