Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Saturday December 1, 2001
Jeremy Laurence

In South Africa, where more people live with HIV/AIDS than in any other country and the government is widely criticized for its ambiguous stance, former president Nelson Mandela called for victims to be given access to drugs that fight the disease.

"Nothing threatens us more today than HIV/AIDS...AIDS is a scourge threatening to undo all the gains we made in our generations of struggle," said Mandela, who headed the country's first post-apartheid government.

Close to five million people, or one in nine of the population, are affected in South Africa by the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, or the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome that it invariably leads to.

World AIDS Day was marked by pressure groups and governments alike, and included calls by a group of Indian prostitutes for their profession to be legalized. In the Seychelles, the government announced it would offer free antiretroviral drugs.

In 16 countries, more than one 10th of people aged 15-49 are infected with HIV. Worldwide, more than 40 million people live with HIV or AIDS, including 4.5 million children.

Twenty years after scientists in the United States reported first clinical evidence of the disease, there is no still cure.

ABOUT-TURN IN CHINA

While the Chinese infection rates do not compare with the devastating statistics from Africa, Beijing has made a dramatic about-turn in recent months.

The world's most populous country was jolted into action after HIV infections surged 67.4 percent to 3,541 in the first half of 2001.

"This year the government has really stepped up its fight against AIDS because of the global situation," said AIDS expert Zhang Konglai, a professor at the Peking Union Medical College.

China's first television drama on AIDS, which had a potential audience of 92 percent of China's population of 1.3 billion through state-owned China Central Television, was partly a scare tactic.

But it also contained more subtle messages about a disease which threatens to escalate into a major epidemic in a country where there is still widespread ignorance about it.

The United Nations says China could have 10 million HIV/AIDS sufferers by 2010 unless it acts decisively.

Mandela, 83, cuddled infected and dying children at a shanty home and answered questions from black and white children.

Africa's most respected statesman insisted repeatedly in his answers to their questions that the government should provide drugs to prolong the lives of people already infected with HIV.

His forthright comments contrasted sharply with current president Thabo Mbeki's ambiguous stance on the issue.

"For those who are HIV-positive, we must ensure that they get the proper treatment and drugs which are going to help them resist the pandemic," Mandela said.

The country's foremost AIDS lobby group, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), welcomed Mandela's comments as "a subtle message to Mbeki."

"This comment would not have been made without realizing it is in contrast with what Mr. Mbeki has been saying," said TAC national secretary Mark Heywood.

Mbeki has repeatedly voiced the view that anti-AIDS drugs are expensive, dangerous and unproven.

DRUGS FOR AFRICA

U.S. drug giant Pfizer Inc said it would sign agreements with six African countries in the next three months to provide its antifungal drug Diflucan free to AIDS sufferers.

The program will be extended beyond South Africa to Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda, Namibia and Swaziland.

Pope John Paul, leader of the world's Roman Catholics, said people with AIDS should not feel alone in their suffering and called for greater awareness of the causes and consequences.

Under John Paul, the Vatican has been unbending in its opposition to all forms of artificial contraception, including condoms which are seen by many health experts as a key tool in the battle against AIDS.

The church has always preached abstinence from extra-marital sex as the best way to prevent transmission of the virus.

But in devoutly Catholic Portugal, which has the highest infection rate in the European Union, the church put AIDS prevention before moral stricture, urging couples to have blood tests before beginning a stable relationship, "in marriage or otherwise."

Meanwhile, a group of prostitutes in Calcutta urged authorities to legalize their profession, saying it would improve access to medical facilities and reduce the incidence of AIDS. A recent U.N.-funded report said an "explosive" AIDS epidemic had hit Asian sex workers.
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