India’s HIV patients say shortages leaving hundreds of thousands without drugs

An Indian woman living with HIV holds antiretroviral drugs. The drugs cost £50 a month on the open market, a prohibitive cost for many. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Hundreds of thousands of people living with HIV in India are struggling to access treatment because of a shortage of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, according to campaigners.

Up to 500,000 people have not been able to get hold of free ARVs from government health centres and hospitals over the past five months, they say, as the country experiences stock shortages of key drugs.