Excerpt from report by Tanzanian newspaper Sunday Observer web site on 16 December

Tanzania has become among the first African countries where local industrialists have teamed up to manufacture life-prolonging drugs, at affordable prices for HIV/AIDS victims .

Tanzania, together with Egypt and South Africa, has competent pharmaceutical companies which can produce quality drugs in line with recommendations made at the just concluded Doha, Qatar, World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting.

"We have the resources to start manufacturing the drugs upon securing the greenlight from the government ," noted the Sumaria Group of Companies Manager Corporate Planning, Mr Harpreet Duggal.

He said in response to the WTO meeting, and because Tanzania is one of the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, Shelys Pharmaceuticals Ltd , a member of the Sumaria Group, has decided to start manufacturing life-prolonging drugs for AIDS victims.

Eight per cent of Tanzania's estimated population of over 33 million people is believed to be HIV positive...