Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) said that only 10 percent of people, 35,000 people, in the DRC who need ARV's have access to them. The main reason for the low numbers is lack of funding.
According to MSF's Benazech, some programmes in the capital are no longer accepting new patients for HIV treatment.
"Many patients coming from the government hospital, which has run out of drugs, arrive at the MSF clinic when they are already extremely weak and close to death so their chances of survival are low," she said. "Patients on treatment are forced to pay for the CD-4 examination [which measures immune strength] follow-up... which is extremely expensive for the average Congolese person.
"HIV in the DRC is not chronic, like it is in many other African countries, where significant coverage is being reached; here it is acute," she added. "We urgently need more advocacy and mobilization for additional funding for treatment in the DRC; the situation is critical."
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