Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Wednesday, December 04, 2002
Andrew Quinn
The campaign, organized jointly by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the South African Medical Association (SAMA), will provide free antiretroviral treatment to 9,000 public sector patients.
"It is a threat to everything and to everybody," Mandela said at Tuesday evening's launch. "It has destroyed our most valuable resource: our people."
Called "Tshepang" or "have hope," the program is a fresh challenge to South Africa's government, which has resisted efforts to provide antiretrovirals, arguing they are dangerously toxic and prohibitively expensive.
President Thabo Mbeki has also questioned the link between HIV and AIDS--a view that has permeated discussions on the issue within the ruling African National Congress.
No senior government official attended Tuesday's launch. The Health Ministry said in a statement that while it welcomed "in principle" new treatment initiatives, it needed more information about the project before commenting on it.
South Africa has almost 5 million people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, the world's highest case load.
SAMA Chairman Kgosi Letlape said South Africa, particularly its medical community, could no longer stand by as millions died from the disease.
"Treatment of patients is our responsibility. It is time we woke up," Letlape told Reuters Wednesday. Mandela's foundation has donated 10 million rand ($1.08 million) for the project, which organizers say could cost as much as 80 million rand to get up and running.
The vast majority of the country's HIV/AIDS patients are too poor to afford antiretroviral drugs. Letlape said he knew demand would be immense. "We will be overwhelmed immediately." But organizers said the program could demonstrate to the government that it was feasible to distribute antiretrovirals.
The program will seek to negotiate cheaper drug prices from big pharmaceutical firms.
AIDS activist Zackie Achmat, who is refusing to take antiretroviral drugs for his own HIV infection until the drugs are made widely available, said the new program could push both the government and drug companies to get serious about South Africa's HIV/AIDS pandemic.
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