By David Loyn BBC developing world correspondent

The generic versions of the drugs will be strictly regulated

The deal was reached at the weekend, after United States objections were swept aside.

Mr Sumbane said that the deal does no more than deliver on commitments previously made to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and agreed at the United Nations in the millennium development goals.

The new agreement will allow the poorest countries to buy generic copies of expensive patented drugs.

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The cheaper versions are made mainly in India and Brazil, but they cannot be imported into Africa without stringent conditions demanded by the US, including the demand that each drugs consignment should have a separate licence from the WHO.

This will make the programme very expensive to administer.

Global responsibility

"We have done our bit, but we are not sitting back and waiting for gifts. That's why we want this better offer in terms of pricing of drugs so we can buy them. It is a matter of morality of course, but it is a matter of responsibility because people are dying in their millions," Mr Sumbane said.

If from the moment that you know you are sick that you receive drugs, then it is not going to be a death sentence as it is now Dr Alice Roussaux, Medecins Sans Frontieres

The deal is set to clear one obstacle to successful negotiations at the key summit of the World Trade Organisation in Cancun, Mexico next week.

About 12-15% of Mozambique's 18 million population is HIV positive, and the availability of cheap antiretroviral remedies could reduce the discrimination against those who are affected, according to Dr Alice Roussaux, a doctor working for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

"I think it will make a big difference to discrimination, because if you are able to propose something from the moment you are tested, then people will come forward. Once they know that they are not the only one, you can be HIV positive and still live a life," she explained.

"If from the moment that you know you are sick that you receive drugs, then it is not going to be a death sentence as it is now."

Discrimination

MSF have been piloting a programme in Mozambique to demonstrate that African patients can be trusted to take the drugs responsibly, despite the belief of some prominent figures, including Andrew Natsios, the head of USAID, that these drugs would be a waste of money in Africa at any cost because of the fragility of the health system.

One in five children in Mozambique do not reach their fifth birthday

But only a few hundred patients can be treated.

Waiting in the queue is Bento Bango, one of Mozambique's most prominent journalists, who knows what anti-Aids discrimination is like.

Earlier this year he announced that he was HIV positive.

"Not only did I lose my job, but I had a girlfriend and her father did not want me to marry her, because he thought I was not worthy to join the family. And furthermore my landlord expelled me from my house," he said.

'Magic vegetable'

Mozambicans are also helping themselves to improve their health and immunity against the opportunistic diseases which come with Aids.

The British NGO Action Aid is pioneering the spread of red sweet potato, which has an unusually high Vitamin A content. In the Marakuene region north of Maputo, the area worst affected by flooding two years ago, they call it a magic vegetable, and they even grind it into flour to make doughnuts for schoolchildren to improve their health.

It is all part of a health picture which will significantly help to reduce mortality in a country where almost one in five children do not reach their fifth birthday.

The government is moving towards its goal of spending 15% of its budget on health care, but Mr Sumbane says this can only be effective if generic copies of drugs for other diseases are made available too.

Malaria continues to kill more people in Mozambique than Aids, and the disease it mutating so that only the newest drugs are effective against it.