Sunday Times, South Africa - Sunday, May 2, 1999
Laurice Taitz
In that time, 120 000 babies have been infected with HIV. The lives of half these babies could have been saved by the drug.
The Department of Health has said the costs of the treatment are too high, but it has not made the drug's manufacturer, Glaxo Wellcome, a counter offer.
Pressure on the government to reverse its decision mounted as representatives of the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS met the Minister of Health, Dr Nkosazana Zuma, in Cape Town on Friday.
The association, which has embarked on a treatment action campaign, also protested at the offices of Glaxo Wellcome this week.
Studies have shown that it is more cost-effective to prevent mother--to-child transmission than to treat the complications of HIV infection in children.
A recent study by the Medical Research Council found that a national programme would be an affordable, cost-effective and potentially cost-saving public health intervention.
For months the Department of Health has maintained that the costs of providing AZT to pregnant women are too high.
Ronnie Mamoepa, a spokesman for Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, said this week that calls for AZT should not be directed at the government but at pharmaceutical companies who were responsible for the prices.
In the US, Glaxo sells 100 100mg AZT tablets for $128 (about R768), while in South Africa the price at which it is being offered to the government is $39,80 (R238) - the lowest in the world. To treat one pregnant woman would cost the government less than R400.
Zackie Achmat, a spokesman for the campaign, said the meeting held with Zuma was the "most productive AIDS meeting yet".
He said the minister had set a date in mid-June for another meeting to discuss the issue. "Glaxo has never put the figures in writing of what the exact costs would be to the government. They have spoken only about percentages."
Achmat said the campaign planned to step up efforts to have the cost of the drug reduced. "There was consensus with the minister that this is a political issue, but it is not a party-political issue, so it is something we can discuss once elections are out of the way."
Dr James McIntyre of the perinatal HIV research unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital said: "I want to know from the government what price range they think is affordable."
The anti-retroviral dug Retrovir, widely known as AZT, has been shown to be extremely successful in inhibiting the progress of the virus. Research has shown that it reduces the rate of transmission from HIV-positive mothers to babies by more than 50 percent.
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