Fake AIDS Drugs Flood Zimbabwe
AIDS drugs, some of them contaminated, diluted or faked, are being sold at flea markets and hairdressing salons in the face of growing shortages in clinics linked to Zimbabwe's economic crisis, the health ministry said Monday.
State media quoted Minister of Health David Parirenyatwa appealing to people living with HIV/AIDS to buy their medicines from registered pharmacies, clinics and hospitals only.
"These fake drugs increase chances of one becoming resistant to treatment and it becomes even more expensive for that person to remain on treatment," he was quoted as saying by the official Herald newspaper, which said that the "prohibitive" cost of antiretroviral drugs at private pharmacies had fueled the illegal market.
11 September 2007