HIV medication is scarce in Africa

The BBC's Today programme highlighted the case of one woman which brings the issue into sharp focus.

Blessed, a student, came to Britain from Malawi in 1999 and was diagnosed with HIV in 2001.

I know if I go back to Malawi I will die Blessed

She has been told that she must return to her homeland, even though her doctors say the drugs she needs are not available there.

"I know if I go back to Malawi I will die," she said.

"Most of my relatives are dying of Aids right now - I have just lost my aunt last month.

"She lived with Aids for such a long time. She knew that she had it, but she just could not manage to get the drugs."

Blessed denied that she had travelled to the UK simply to take advantage of the NHS.

"If I had come here for treatment I would have gone straight for HIV tests the same year I came, but I have been living here since 1999, and I was diagnosed in 2001 just because of flu.

"At the time when I was diagnosed I thought I would just have to go back to Malawi, but my doctor said the fact that you are in the UK means you can get the treatment for free.

"I wasn't expecting to get any treatment if I did go back. I just wanted to go back and die with my mum looking after me."

Blessed said she had responded well to the medication she had been taking in the UK, and had started to put on weight.

"But if I go back, next year you will hear that Blessed has gone."

'Let her stay'

Because she was diagnosed here she is under our responsibility Dr Evan Harris

Dr Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat health spokesman, urged the government not to deport Blessed.

He said: "Not only is there no treatment in Malawi, but there is no infrastructure in Malawi.

"Because she was diagnosed here she is under our responsibility, and to send her back would be to send her to her death."

Dr Harris said Britain was partly responsible for the poor state of the health service in Malawi and other developing countries, because it had hired many overseas nurses to plug gaps in the NHS.

"Out of 235 newly qualified nurses in Malawi in 2001-02, the UK took 75 to prop up our health service," he said.

"So we are systematically destroying the health care systems of these countries and then saying that a few people who get here and are getting treated, politicians are then saying they are destroying our health care system. It is outrageous."