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Nature 410, 615-616 (5 April 2001) | doi:10.1038/35070733

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Experts clash over likely impact of cheap AIDS drugs in Africa

Meredith Wadman

Conflict is brewing between clinicians treating AIDS patients and some public-health experts over the wisdom of distributing cut-price AIDS drugs rapidly in poor countries.While hard-pressed doctors are trying to get the medicines out as quickly as possible, others warn that they may do more harm than good, diverting scarce funds from more cost-effective preventive measures and perhaps raising new problems with drug resistance and side effects.