Uganda: MPs recommend slashing ARV budget allocation

Ugandan HIV activists have expressed concern over a recommendation by parliament's budget committee that the allocation for antiretroviral (ARV) drugs be cut. The national budget for 2008/09 allocated 76 billion shillings (US$38 million) to purchasing ARVs, the first such allocation in the country's history, but this week the house standing committee recommended that the amount be cut to 40 billion shillings in the 2009/2010 budget.