Zambia Struggling To Disperse HIV Drug Lenacapavir

The New York Times (5/26, Nolen) reports the US State Department has “not only honored” but “increased the investment” in funding the purchase of enough lenacapavir to reach three million people in developing countries by the end of 2028. However, “whether the distribution of the drug can achieve its full promise of eventually ending the H.I.V. epidemic” in Zambia is “far from clear. The...administration’s other aid cuts have left the country’s health system so fragile that it may not have the infrastructure – to do tests, to deliver the drug, to keep records – necessary to get the drug to all those who need it. And it’s not clear whether Zambia will receive enough donated doses – or be able to buy enough – to have a meaningful impact on rates of H.I.V. transmission.”