ARV prices go down

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Thursday December 9, 2010 00:00

The 2009-2010 HIV/AIDS budget cost the government P1.3 billion, with the treatment taking the larger share of the cost. However, the good news is that the cost of HIV drugs have drastically gone down even in pharmacies.  

'The prices (of drugs) were way above P500 per month in the past five years but now they are way below that,' Liberty Zibako, a pharmacist at Botschem Pharmacy in Gaborone said yesterday.

He suggested that this could be because of the increase in the number of firms manufacturing the drugs especially in India. 

Bhavesh Patel of Letlhakane Pharmacy in Letlhakane said that currently, ARVs cost about P300 to P400 a month - half the going rate in the past. He said that previously the drugs had been unaffordable to many people.

Magda Britz of Okavango Pharmacy said that nowadays, customers come to buy ARVs from the pharmacy every month because the cost has gone down.  'Prices have gone own quite a lot even though people still get the treatment from clinics,' she said.  She stated that in the past, the drugs cost roughly P800 to a P1,000 but this has gone down to P500 or lower. 

Deputy coordinator of the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), Golekane Setume said yesterday that currently, it is government's policy to provide free drugs to everyone who has been registered for treatment. But he is aware that there are those who feel they can afford the drugs. 

Nevertheless, he said that the drugs are very expensive for the government.  'It must be noted that out of the HIV/AIDS budget, treatment take a large portion,' he said. 

Setume said that since the free provision of drugs is not sustainable, the government encourages behaviour change.  He said that the most cost effective measure is for people to change their attitudes and behaviour to achieve zero new infections by 2016. 'Risk reduction is a very critical issue.  As much as the government is providing treatment, the nation should take responsibility and behave responsibly,' he said.