Africa: African Health Ministers Call for Additional Assistance

Health ministers from several African countries last Thursday while in Rome called on wealthy countries to provide more assistance to deliver "high quality" drug treatment for individuals living with HIV/AIDS and called on pharmaceutical companies to lower antiretroviral drug prices "to the point of being compatible with the weak resources of our countries," Agence France-Presse reports. At a two-day conference sponsored by the Community of Sant'Egidio health ministers from the Central African Republic, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania and Togo released a statement saying that treatment for HIV/AIDS should be considered a "human right," according to Agence France-Presse.