Africa to access cheap lifesaving cancer drugs

Govt to combat HIV/AIDS scourge
Cancer sufferers in Africa may soon have access to lifesaving drugs.

This followed two separate groundbreaking market access agreements with Pfizer Incorporation and Cipla Incorporation to expand access to sixteen essential cancer treatment medications.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) announced the breakthrough yesterday.

The access would include chemotherapies in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.

A joint statement by ACS, CHAI, Pfizer and Cipla said an estimated 44 per cent of all cancer cases in the sub-Saharan Africa occur yearly in these six countries.

According to the statement, the agreements will set competitive prices on the medicines to enable African governments to realise substantial savings, while improving the quality of available treatment.

The collaboration was part of a broader effort to improve the market environment for cancer care in Africa.

The Guardian had last year reported that there has been 1000 per cent increase in the cost of lifesaving drugs for cancer patients, which made them inaccessible and unaffordable.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the American Cancer Society, Gary M. Reedy, said: “Every person with cancer deserves access to treatment, no matter where they live.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole yesterday disclosed that the country was on the path of total eradication of the HIV/AIDS deadly disease.

Adewole disclosed a North West zonal dissemination of the 2016 national guidelines for HIV/AIDS prevention treatment and care has been launched in Kaduna.

The National Coordinator of the National AIDS and STIs Control Programme, Dr. Sunday Aboje said it has achieved its objective in the management of the disease.