More than 500 HIV/AIDS patients in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will begin receiving free anti-retroviral drugs by May as part of a gift from Brazil. Head of the OECS Pharmaceutical Procurement Service Unit, Francis Burnette, said the drugs were part of a container load which arrived in Castries, St. Lucia as the first part of several shipments. He said the Brazil government would donate the drugs free of cost over the next three years. The donation is valued at over US$160,000. The shipment of drugs is one component of a Memorandum of Understanding between the government of Brazil and CARICOM for a number of initiatives. Reprinted from radioja.com