Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - December 15, 2001
Activists who packed the court gallery cheered and hugged each other as Judge Chris Botha read a brief judgment stating that the government had to make the drug nevirapine available to the women giving birth in public hospitals.
Botha also ordered the government to institute a nationwide program to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The government was given until March 31 to report back to the court on how the program--which was to include counseling, HIV testing and follow-up treatment--was being implemented.
About 200 babies are born HIV-positive every day in South Africa, and studies show nevirapine can reduce the transmission of the virus from mother to child by up to 50 percent.
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