National AIDS conference opens

Delegates attending South Africa's second AIDS conference are expected to confront the challenges facing the country as it pushes ahead with its treatment programme. More than 4,000 AIDS researchers, activists and politicians turned up for the four-day meeting, which kicked off on Tuesday in the port city of Durban. Conference chairwoman Lynn Morris confirmed that the event would "look at issues like: how treatment programmes are progressing, where the successes lie, and what the obstacles are"; the results of programmes in poorer rural areas, as well as those in the private sector would be also be presented. The provision of anti-AIDS treatment in the public health sector is expected to dominate discussions over the next three days, as this has been a significant development since the first conference two years ago. More than a year after the South African government began providing antiretroviral (ARV) medication, there is frustration with the slow pace at which targets are being met. About 42,000 people are receiving the drugs, and the government is now close to meeting its target of providing treatment to 53,000 - admittedly a few months past the March 2005 deadline. Sipho Luthuli of the AIDS Consortium, a local NGO, told PlusNews: "It would have been more fitting for our government to have used the start of this meeting to make its own successes known, despite the lag on their treatment target." "My only concern now is that other important issues, such as prevention and awareness, are not overlooked, as the government works harder to expand its free drug rollout programme," Luthuli added. He hoped the conference theme of 'Unity and Accountability' would highlight the successes as well as the challenges faced by the country in tackling the AIDS pandemic.