Africa-Press – Angola. The director of the National Institute for the Fight Against AIDS (INLS), Lúcia Furtado, announced on Thursday in Luanda that the government plans to introduce in Angola the Lenacapavir, an injectable drug recently launched by the American pharmaceutical company Gilliard for the HIV/AIDS’s prevention and treatment.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the 2nd International Congress on the Response to HIV/AIDS in Angola, the director explained that the drug is administered in only two annual doses.
She noted that it initially cost 40,000 US dollars per person, but after negotiations between the United Nations and the company, the price was reduced to 40 per patient.
Lúcia Furtado added that, initially, the drug will be made available to the most vulnerable populations, thus strengthening the national prevention strategy.
The director stated that, in Angola, 370,000 people live with HIV/AIDS and that the prevalence rate is 1.6%, representing a reduction compared to 2015, when it was 2%, while the disease continues to be a public health challenge, mainly among young people aged 15 to 24 and the adult population.
According to the director, Angola is currently the country in Sub-Saharan Africa that invests the most in the response to HIV/AIDS, with approximately 85% of resources provided by the State, the majority of which is allocated to treatment.
She also clarified that science has proven that treatment also works as a form of prevention, allowing infected people, under appropriate treatment, to achieve an undetectable viral load, without the risk of transmitting the virus.
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