NEWS
SA on track in AIDS fight, BBC News

S Africa 'on track in Aids fight'
South Africa is on course to meet its target of halving new Aids infections by 2011, the deputy president has said.

Some 1,000 people are currently being infected each day. The other target is to treat 80% of those in need.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngquka gave her upbeat assessment despite recent controversies at the health ministry.

South Africa has more HIV infections than any other country - 5.5 million - but has recently started to improve access to anti-Aids drugs.

"We are on track," said Mrs Mlambo-Ngquka at the first meeting of South Africa's National Aids Council since it launched its five-year plan in May.

'Momentum'

Mark Heywood from Aids lobby group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) agreed that progress was being made.
"There is momentum... there is a very serious consideration of some of the different questions around strategy, around treatment protocols, about how to expand access, how to create a culture of knowing your HIV status," he said.
The plan was launched while controversial Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was recovering from health problems.
The minister is known as "Dr Beetroot" because of her emphasis on the importance of nutrition in the fight against Aids, while she under-plays the role of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).
Last month, the deputy minister was sacked following a series of disagreements with Ms Tshabalala-Msimang, who is now back at work.
The official reason was because she went on an unauthorised trip to an Aids conference in Spain.
After being accused of being too slow to roll out ARVs, the government changed its approach and about 280,000 people were on ARV treatment at the end of March this year.
However, that is still well short of the estimated 800,000 who are thought to need ARVs in South Africa.

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/6988822.stm
Published: 2007/09/11 10:26:16 GMT
© BBC MMVII

© Speak Out Terms of use