§ Norman LambTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much, on average, full treatment for one HIV sufferer costs over the course of a year in the last five years. [37937]
§ Clare ShortThere are currently 17 different separate licensed anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs which can be used in a variety of combinations. Moreover, different countries use different types of drugs and treatments to help treat people living with HIV/AIDS.
The retail cost of all three classes of drugs in developed countries averages between $10,000 and $14,000 per year. Costa Rica has negotiated a price equivalent to $7,000 per patient per year for ARV. Nigeria has launched the largest ARV treatment programme in Africa, using a generic form of ARV at a cost of $350 per patient per year. In Brazil, where some ARV drugs are produced locally, triple combination therapy costs $1,460 per patient per year, whereas in Thailand the cost of triple combination therapy is over $4,100 per patient per year. In addition to drugs costs there are laboratory monitoring costs (estimated at around US$400 per annum in Uganda) and other associated service delivery costs.
My Department is working with the international community to facilitate a framework for differential pricing, which would provide essential medicines to the developing world at substantially lower cost. However, the cost of ARV represents only part of the cost of treatment for people living with HIV. For example, an essential pre-requisite to any programme to increase access to medicines is widespread availability of voluntary counselling and testing. Adequate access to treatment for opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis, is also crucial. Furthermore, building capacity to use ARVs effectively cannot be achieved overnight, and will require substantial and sustained investment in health systems to reduce resistance to the drugs and to maximise the utility of the drugs in the short and long term.