Venezuela to run out of antiretrovirals in 2018
The Venezuelan government has reportedly not yet signed an urgently needed order for the purchase of vital antiretroviral medication in Venezuela, putting the lives of at least 77,000 people living with HIV in the country at risk. The dwindling stock of antiretroviral medications will finally run out in March 2018, according to local civil society.
UA: 280/17 Index: AMR 53/7580/2017 Venezuela Date: 20 December 2017
URGENT ACTION
VENEZUELA TO RUN OUT OF ANTIRETROVIRALS IN 2018
The Venezuelan government has reportedly not yet signed an urgently needed order for
the purchase of vital antiretroviral medication in Venezuela, putting the lives of at least
77,000 people living with HIV in the country at risk. The dwindling stock of antiretroviral
medications will finally run out in March 2018, according to local civil society.
Local organizations providing care to people living with HIV report that Venezuela received its last shipment of
antiretroviral medication in September 2017, with supplies that could last a maximum of six months, until March
2018. After that date, unless Venezuela receives additional supplies, the country will reportedly have no
antiretroviral medication for the approximately 77,000 people living with HIV, putting their lives and health at
serious risk.
Civil society sources also report that the Venezuelan authorities have until now refused to sign additional purchase
orders for the urgently needed medication. These orders are usually issued by the Ministry of Health with funds
approved by the Ministry of Finance, and are addressed to and supplied by the Strategic Fund of the Pan American
Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO). The process takes up to six months between the signing of the order and the
delivery of the supplies. Therefore, if an order is signed in December, it could take until June for the medicines to
reach people in need, thus reinforcing the extreme urgency with which the government should sign the purchase
order.
As of 1 December 2017, people living with HIV in Venezuela only had access to five out of 27 antiretroviral
medications that should be available for a complete treatment. Throughout 2017, at least 70% of all HIV-positive
people in Venezuela have been receiving intermittent treatment due to the constantly under-supplied pharmacies
and compounded by sky-rocketing inflation.
Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:
Demanding the Minister of Health immediately issue a purchase order for all necessary antiretroviral
medications for people living with HIV in Venezuela, to guarantee their rights to life and health;
Urging the Minister of Finance to assign and release the funds needed for the purchase of enough
antiretroviral medication to care for every person living with HIV in Venezuela for a period of at least one year;
Calling on the authorities to take urgent measures to guarantee the right to health of people suffering
chronic illnesses in Venezuela.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 31 JANUARY 2018 TO:
Minister of Health
Mr Luis López Chejade
Ministerio del Poper Popular para la
Salud
Av. Baralt, Centro Simón Bolívar, Edif.
Sur, El Silencio
Caracas 1010, Distrito Capital
Venezuela
Twitter: @LuisLopezPSUV
Twitter: @MPPSalud
Salutation: Dear Mr Minister/
Estimado Señor Ministro
Minister of Finance and Economy
Mr Simón Zerpa
Ministerio del Poder Popular para
Economía y Finanzas
Av. Urdaneta entre Avenidas 1 y 3
Caracas 1010, Distrito Capital
Venezuela
Twitter: @SimonZerpaD
Twitter: @MinEcoFinanzas
Salutation: Dear Mr Minister/
Estimado Señor Ministro
And copies to:
Acción Solidaria
Avenida Orinoco, Quinta Los Olivos,
Caracas, 1060, Distrito Capital
Natasha Saturno:
NSaturno@accionsolidaria.info
Andrea Breat Núñez:
ANunez@accionsolidaria.info
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
VENEZUELA TO RUN OUT OF RETROVIRALS IN 2018
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Venezuela has been experiencing a humanitarian crisis since at least 2016, severely affecting people’s social and economic
rights, particularly the rights to health and food.
According to UNAIDS, in 2016, Venezuela had approximately 6500 new HIV infections and around 2500 AIDS-related deaths.
There were approximately 120 000 people living with HIV in 2016, among whom around 61% were accessing antiretroviral
therapy. In addition the UNAIDS have stated that the country has made some efforts to scale up national HIV prevention,
counselling, testing and treatment programmes; however, in the past two years progress has halted. The difficult economic
climate is hampering the ability to purchase and procure medicines as well as supplies for HIV testing and prevention. This has
caused shortages of antiretroviral medicines and medicines to treat opportunistic infections, as well as male and female
condoms and testing for diagnosis of HIV, CD4 and viral load and drug resistance tests.
Although there is almost no access to official data regarding health in Venezuela, in 2017, the Venezuelan Ministry of Health
published its weekly epidemiological bulletins from 2016 (after several years of not publishing this information). The data
revealed that during 2016, 11,466 children under the age of one had died, an increase of 30.1% from 2015, when this figure
stood at 8,812. The most common causes of infant mortality were neonatal sepsis, pneumonia and premature birth. In the case
of maternal mortality, the published bulletins indicated an increase of 65.8% between 2015 and 2016, with a total of 756 deaths
recorded in 2016, 300 more than in 2015.
The Documentation and Analysis Centre for Workers, a local NGO with more than 40 years of experience in the field of
research regarding labor rights in the country, reported that in September the basket of consumer goods for a family of five,
which is used to define the consumer price index, was 18 times the minimum wage, representing a 335% increase since the
start of the year.
In 2017, the humanitarian organization Caritas Venezuela found that 27.6% of children studied were at risk of malnutrition and
15.7% of them suffered mild-to-acute malnutrition.
Moreover, the World Health Organization recently issued its World Malaria Report 2017, in which the organization states that
Venezuela is going through a humanitarian crisis and reports that despite the fact that, historically, Venezuela had been a model
for malaria eradication, this illness has been on the rise since 2008.
Gender m/f: all
UA: 280/17 Index: AMR 53/7580/2017 Venezuela Issue Date: 20 December 2017