Health24,
The Health Ministry and pharmaceutical company Pfizer have signed an agreement to extend the Diflucan Partnership Programme (DPP) indefinitely.
The DPP is a public-private partnership between various governments and Pfizer, which has opened a door to treatment for people living with HIV/Aids.
Through the programme, the Pfizer-manufactured
drug Diflucan is being provided free of charge to government hospitals and
clinics.
Preventing life-threatening complications
Pfizer South
Diflucan is an anti-fungal drug used to treat two opportunistic infections commonly associated with HIV and Aids - cryptococcal meningitis and oesophageal candidiasis.
These conditions, afflicting the brain and the oesophagus respectively, are capable of causing life-threatening complications for HIV/Aids patients with depleted immune systems.
No time or dollar limit
Pfizer signed the first agreement to provide Diflucan (fluconazole) to people
living with HIV/Aids with Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on
Kearney
said he was happy that the partnership in the fight against HIV/Aids would
continue.
He said the extension would have no dollar or
time limit.
Diflucan would be available on the programme for as long as South African patients required it.
Diflucan treatment, he said, brought relief to
thousands of South Africans in the public sector that would otherwise not be
able to access the medicine.
Ensuring patients' needs met
Present at the news conference was Pfizer JAALA (
He said: "Pfizer has distributed over 1.5
million free doses of Diflucan, processed 50 800 scripts and trained over 10 000
healthcare professionals on the programme, reaching 317 hospitals."
According to Said the DPP had been carefully
designed to ensure proper diagnosis, treatment, and patient compliance. The
initiative would be monitored regularly to ensure that it successfully met
patients' needs and would be continuously evaluated by the Ministries of Health
and Pfizer.
Expanding into
Said said Pfizer had already extended DPP to nine other African countries, and
further expansion was imminent.
The other countries currently participating in
the programme are
"In these expansion countries there are over 350 operational sites, over one million tablets have been dispensed and over 550 healthcare professionals trained in the diagnosis and management of these fungal infections," said Said.
Extension welcomed by health sector
Tshabalala-Msimang added: "The Diflucan Partnership has grown and developed
into a valuable programme. We are pleased that it is being extended in this way.
"The programme has not only benefited South
Africans living with Aids, but has also resulted in excellent additional
training for our healthcare professionals in the treatment and management of
several opportunistic infections."
Advocate Patricia Lambert, legal advisor to the
Health Minister and chairwoman of the DPP Ministerial Working Group, said:
"The extension of this programme will be welcomed by all the healthcare
professionals who are currently involved in it. Since its inception they have
worked with enthusiasm and dedication to make the programme the success that it
is."
"Our own minister of health should take a
bow because it is through her support of the programme that many doors have
opened up for Pfizer in