Govt to continue AIDS drug supply

By Charles WendoThe Ministry of Health will continue distributing free doses of Nevirapine, a drug for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission despite America’s queries about the research data.The Director General of Health Services, Prof. Francis Omaswa, on Tuesday said though some of the data was missing, there was overwhelming evidence that Nevirapine was safe and effective in preventing mother-to-child transmission.“They were asking for some things that we did but we can’t show that we did them because some of the papers are missing. We didn’t know we were required to produce these papers and that is why we sent them where they are now,” he said.The World Health Organisation representative in Uganda, Dr. Oladapo Walker, said some countries continued to use Nevirapine despite queries from the US. “I don’t think the efficacy of the drug is in doubt. It is the issue of documentation that we are talking about,” he said.In 1999, a team of medical researchers led by Prof. Francis Miiro of the Makerere University Medical School, announced their discovery that mother-to-child HIV transmission could be reduced by half if all HIV-positive pregnant women took Nevirapine at labour. The treatment has since been adopted in various countries to reduce the number of children born with HIV.The United States Food and Drug Administration is demanding for research data before the drug is endorsed.Miiro said all the information was available but the US scientific auditors want to see the original sheets.