Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - Sunday 28 July, 2002
Edwin Lombard
The former President said he understood the "principled position" taken by the Treatment Action Campaign leader to refuse antiretroviral drugs until the state made them available to all HIV-infected people .
Hugging Achmat outside his Muizenberg home, Mandela said: " I have a case to take to the President to acquaint him with his [Achmat's] position. He is a loyal and disciplined member of the ANC and his actions are not against the ANC nor against the government and I am going to explain that to the President ."
Achmat said Mandela's visit had put into focus the number of South Africans who were dying unnecessarily from preventable illnesses. "We want the government to provide anti-retrovirals to some degree to the public . . . and to properly treat opportunistic infections so that every new infection can be eliminated."
Achmat said that he was feeling better than he was a few weeks ago when he was bedridden and unable to travel to the HIV-Aids conference in Barcelona, but that his immune system was continuing to deteriorate.
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