AFRO-NETS> HIV/AIDS: WHO Publishes First List of Recommended Drugs

[Leela McCullough <leela@usa.healthnet.org>]

HIV/AIDS: WHO Publishes First List of Recommended Drugs
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Source:
http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/util/display_stories.asp?objid=24859

The World Health Organization today published its first list of 
HIV/AIDS drugs that meet its recommended standards. The initial phase 
of a project supported by UNICEF, the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS 
(UNAIDS) Secretariat, the U.N. Population Fund and the World Bank, 
the list includes 40 products from eight manufacturers, with another 
13 suppliers and 100 products already under review. Eleven anti-
retrovirals and five products for opportunistic infections are on to-
day's list.

"The project demonstrates the vital contributions research-based and 
generic companies can make to innovation, quality and access of life-
saving medicines," WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland said. 
"We want to see an expansion in people's access to quality health 
care, particularly in relation to those diseases, like HIV/AIDS, that 
keep them poor and prevent the economic development of their communi-
ties."

UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said the initiative "marks an 
important step in increasing the number of qualified suppliers of HIV 
medicines and improving the procurement of these drugs for people 
living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries," while UNICEF Executive 
Director Carol Bellamy said the project will help countries and U.N. 
agencies to procure quality HIV drugs (WHO release, March 20 
<http://www.who.int/inf/en/pr-2002-19.html> ).

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Dr. Leela McCullough
Director of Information Services
SATELLIFE
30 California Street, Watertown, MA 02472, USA
Tel: +1-617-926-9400
Fax: +1-617-926-1212
mailto:leela@usa.healthnet.org
http://www.healthnet.org

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