Tamar Kahn, Science And Health Correspondent
2 December 2003
Cape Town — The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday unveiled details of its ambitious plan to get AIDS drugs to 3-million people by 2005, as people around the world marked World AIDS Day with marches, rallies and prayer meetings to draw attention to the devastating disease for which there is still no cure.
WHO will not pay for the medicines, but will provide countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS with the expertise they need to start their own programmes.
SA, which has the largest HIVpositive population in the world, with more than 5-million people infected, stands to benefit from the programme.
WHO estimates that 6-million people worldwide need AIDS drugs, and more than 500000 of them live in SA.
Speaking at the South African launch in Cape Town yesterday, Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged SA to move like "greased lightening" to treat people with HIV. He criticised delays by government in implementing an HIV/AIDS treatment plan.
"How long must we listen to the cackling? Get on with the business of saving lives. It is long overdue," he said.
Tutu said the hard-won battle waged by ordinary citizens against government to get access to AIDS drugs had wasted energy that could have been used better fighting HIV/AIDS.
He said the respect President Thabo Mbeki had gained for his role in driving the New Partnership for Africa's Development and the African Union had been virtually "nullified" by his perceived stance on HIV/AIDS.
"It made us the laughing stock of the world," he said, referring to Mbeki's much-publicised questioning of the causal link between HIV/AIDS. Government announced last month that it planned to provide AIDS medicines at sites in all 53 health districts.
Western Cape appears to be leading the way, with the announcement yesterday by premier Marthinus Van Schalkwyk that the province would provide antiretroviral medicines at 15 sites by the end of March.
Van Schalkwyk was speaking at the launch of a public-private partnership between government, the South African Medical Association, the Mandela Foundation and the Tshepang Trust to provide AIDS drugs at the staterun JF Jooste hospital.
"Our provincial government aims to have 83% of all people in the province, who need treatment on antiretrovirals within the next five years." said Van Schalkwyk.
Deputy President Jacob Zuma yesterday praised former president Nelson Mandela for his work in combating HIV/AIDS.
"His mobilisation of the international community, as happened with the 46664 weekend concert in Cape Town, makes us all continue to admire him for his selflessness and his resolve to constantly seek to improve the lives of others." he said, referring to the Mandela's role in Saturday night's AIDS awareness concert.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2003 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
