Access to antiretroviral therapy drives policy

The annual message brought public attention to medical practices used by African communities.

The 2006 observance marked a fourth year of continent-wide debate about traditional medicine and health systems.

A government decree enabled import or production of lower-cost versions of the HIV medicine.

The efavirenz decision aimed to protect affordable access within Brazil’s treatment programme.

Compulsory licensing allowed use of a patented medicine under conditions set by law.

The fifty-seventh WHO Regional Committee for Africa concluded on this date, reporting a declaration on traditional medicine.

The meeting’s reported declaration brought traditional care into a regional health ministers’ agenda.

WHO’s report of the Brazzaville meeting documents a policy discussion involving African traditional medicine.

The committee’s closing report includes traditional medicine among its official regional outcomes.

The government and partners announced that girls and young women would begin receiving vaccine that day.