Kenya’s HIV treatment programme is almost entirely financed by donors like the Global Fund. “The cost of ARVs is a significant recurrent cost, equivalent to 26 per cent of Kenya’s health budget in the current financial year,” he said. The US company announced a price of Sh20,000 (US$ 208) per person per year in 10 countries, where the product is registered but in many developing countries, it is sold for Sh260,000 (US$ 2600) per patient per year. World Health Organization also notes that some pharmaceutical companies choose not to sell their drugs in Africa and no generic versions of these are available. While first-line anti-retroviral drugs for HIV have become more affordable, for patients facing drug resistance and side-effects, some second-line ARV drugs and other newer formulations are prohibitively expensive and inaccessible as pharmaceutical companies try to recoup their research and development costs.

Source: The Star June 13, 2016 04:18 UTC