I was forced to sell my car. At that point a friend made arrangements for Mukuka to get the drugs through a relation in Britain. With no choice in the matter, Mukuka s combination changed. The high tax also limits the number of imported drugs. In his experience, most people can only pay for treatment in the first one to three months and not more than 40 per cent can continue after that point.
Few clinics have the money to stock ARVs.
Another problem for patients is the high mark-up rates charged by local pharmacies. Dr Francis Kasolo, head of pathology and microbiology at UTH says that as well as lifting taxes, regulating the price of drugs is urgently needed. If there is no standardisation, we will end up with a drug resistant disease. ARVs are being prescribed by people who do not understand the virus. But, as with tuberculosis, taking the wrong combination of drugs or missing doses gives the rapidly-changing virus a chance to develop resistance to the drugs.