JOHANNESBURG, Nov 3 (AFP) - Health ministers from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) will meet in Johannesburg this week to discuss the region's AIDS crisis, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

The conference Thursday and Friday will also be attended by health experts from the United Nations and the World Health Organisation and will be addressed by South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

A spokesman for Zuma said the main objective of the conference was to give southern African governments an opportunity to gather information that will help them decide on measures to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus which leads to AIDS.

Delegates will be briefed on the effectiveness of the new anti-AIDS drug Nevirapine in combatting transmission of the virus from pregnant women to their babies.

The drug is currently being used in medical trials in Uganda and South Africa.

The conference will also discuss the "critical issue" of accessibility of anti-AIDS drugs to women, spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said.

The South African government has in recent weeks increasingly come under fire from health workers and AIDS activists over its refusal to make the anti-retroviral drug AZT available in state hospitals.

The conference will be held at southern Africa's largest hospital, Chris Hani-Baragwanath in Johannesburg's sprawling Soweto township.

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