Panafrican News Agency - December 2, 2001

Of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the world, more than 4 million are in South Africa. Even this 4 million is increasing with a minimum of 1,700 daily new infections being recorded. UNAIDS reported that at least 2 million people died from HIV/AIDS related illnesses in Africa in 2000 alone.

Former President Nelson Mandela visited a cr che in Cape Town where AIDS infected babies are cared for, and handed out gifts to the children, many of whom were overwhelmed to be in his presence.

Mandela said the government should provide drugs to prolong the lives of people already infected with HIV.

"We must combine various strategies, firstly giving people the necessary drugs to try and prevent the disease taking the upper hand," he said.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) emphasised the need to continue with work to destigmatise Aids in South Africa.

"This is critical to ensure that as a country we take urgent, effective and decisive steps to sustainably address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We can no longer afford the denial of this pandemic and the poverty of the policies and practices followed by major institutions including banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions on HIV/AIDS," said party spokesman Mazibuko Jara.

The official opposition Democratic Alliance accused the government of refusal to acknowledge that AIDS is now the leading cause of death in South Africa.

Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said President Thabo Mbeki believes that anti-retroviral drugs are more dangerous than AIDS.

He said the DA supported the Treatment Action Campaign's court action to demand that the Health Department implement mother-to- child anti-retroviral programmes in all public hospitals and clinics.

He cited that comparative evidence from more successful AIDS programmes in Uganda and Senegal had shown that political will, and called on the government to declare a national health emergency to allow South Africa to take advantage of the agreement reached on generic drugs at the recent World Trade Organisation meeting in Qatar.

Meanwhile, a successful partnership between South Africa's Department of Health and pharmaceutical company Pfizer to supply the anti-Aids drug Diflucan free to patients is to be introduced in five other African countries by early 2002.

Pfizer spokesman Imraan Munshi on Saturday said memoranda of understanding would be signed to initiate the Diflucan programme in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda, Namibia and Swaziland.

"Since June 2001 when the first treatments became available, the programme has steadily expanded. We've processed 8,759 prescriptions, trained 3,650 health professionals, and distributed over one million doses," Munshi revealed.
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