Government funding crisis in Swaziland disrupts supply of HIV/AIDS supplies

Sep 12 2011

"An acute government funding crisis in Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy, is disrupting supplies of HIV/AIDS drugs and hampering the fight against the virus in the country with the world's highest infection rate, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Friday," Reuters reports. "Stocks of testing kits and related chemicals were 'almost dry,' making it next-to-impossible to chart the progress of the 70,000 patients on therapy or more than 130,000 other people carrying the virus, the aid agency said," according to Reuters.

"With 26 percent of its adult population, or more than 200,000 people infected, Swaziland ranks as the most AIDS-affected country," Reuters writes (Cropley, (9/9). In related news, a new report from Swaziland's government "has found that more than half of [30,000 Swazis, mostly women, working] in Swaziland's garment industry are living with HIV, and officials are realizing that the once-hailed promise of manufacturing employment has become a financial and medical nightmare for tens of thousands of Swazi women," PlusNews reports (8/11).