Malawi: Five-Year, $196 Million Antiretroviral Drug Program begins

Malawi soon will begin a five-year, $196 million nationwide program to provide antiretroviral drugs to HIV-positive people at no cost, Xinhuanet reports. The program is to be funded by a grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Malawi's Health Minister Yusuf Mwawa said that 50 sites throughout the country will participate in the program, including hospitals run by the Malawi Defence Force and Malawi Police Service - two agencies "seriously hit" by the HIV/AIDS epidemic - according to Xinhuanet.