HARARE- Aid agencies operating in Zimbabwe have been urged to take antiviral drugs (ARVs) directly to people with HIV/AIDS amid allegations that some state officials involved in the distribution system were corrupt.

The comments came during a public discussion on access to ARVs held at the United States embassy here on Tuesday.

The main speaker at the meeting, Theresa Nyamupachitu of the US-based John Snow Inc. that sources ARVs for poor countries professed ignorance about the alleged leakages. However, she was informed by participants who included field workers from other NGOs that the system had broken down at the height of Zimbabwe’s economic crisis a few years ago and theft of drugs from health institutions, including ARVs, was a common occurrence.

“A lot of health workers started helping themselves to the drugs to supplement their meagre incomes,” said one aid official at the meeting.

The official, whose organisation distributes contraceptives and sources ARVs for impoverished communities throughout the country said they had been shocked to discover materials that were supposed to be distributed free of charge in rural areas being sold on the black market in Mbare.

“When we investigated, we discovered that the drugs were being stolen from rural clinics in the Midlands and Masvingo province,” the official said.

Another participant said rich and powerful members of society were also helping themselves to the drugs at the expense of the poor. Others said the aid agencies supplying ARV drugs should insist on providing the medication directly to beneficiaries, a system that had eliminated theft and abuse in the distribution of relief food.

However, some said getting the government to accept the changes could prove difficult. It was revealed that in some communities, politicians such as MPs and councillors insisted on writing letters certifying that certain people were too poor to afford the drugs. In return, the politicians demanded the votes of the sick people and their families.

Some participants at the meeting expressed concern that only the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare could decide on where ARV treatment (ART) centres could be located.

Nyamupachitu said the country now had 145 ART centres. Some 245 000 people were on ARVs, with 208 000 of them being located in rural areas. She said the government was responsible for providing ARVs to 10 000 people, the US government 59 000, other Western donors, including SIDA, CIDA and the UK’s DFID helped another 58 000 while the United Nations Global Fund provided for 128 000.