Activists call for AIDS drugs ahead of court battle

Activists are pushing for AIDS drugs to be made available in the South African public health sector as soon as possible, ahead of their court battle with the state next week.

Releasing a statement on Monday calling for the expansion of antiretroviral use, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) chairman Zackie Achmat said more than 70 percent of patients at the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town had HIV-related illnesses. The statement was endorsed by scientists, religious bodies, trade unions and AIDS organisations.

According to the statement, the benefits of using anti-retrovirals far outweigh the risks. Already 20,000 South Africans in the private health sector have access to antiretrovirals. As prices came down further, it would become more cost-effective to provide the drugs to all living with HIV/AIDS, the statement added.

Pilot studies conducted in Johannesburg have shown that the drugs can be used productively by poor South Africans, with low levels of toxicity. Last month President Thabo Mbeki said it had been found that antiretroviral drugs were as dangerous as AIDS. He said the government refused to provide antiretrovirals in the public health sector because the drugs were too toxic.

Prominent opposition parliamentarian Patricia de Lille recently told the house that about 20 percent of law makers used the drugs and queried why all South Africans did not enjoy similar access.

The statement said that the absence of proper guidelines in antiretroviral use was already leading to widespread inappropriate prescription and misuse, mainly by medical practitioners operating without training and standards.

On 26,27 November 2001, the TAC will challenge the government in the Pretoria High Court over its refusal to provide medicines to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV/AIDS between mother and child.

Nonkosi Khumalo, TAC Executive Secretary, told PlusNews that the group was planning protest marches in all provinces on the first day of the court case. TAC would announce their plans for national and international mobilisation on Thursday, she said. Last week the TAC made a special application to compel the government to make available minutes of meetings at which provincial health ministers discussed anti-mother-to-child transmission programmes, Khumalo added.

Meanwhile, human rights group Human Rights Watch, on Wednesday urged President Thabo Mbeki to have his government drop the legal action.

"Mbeki should pull the government out of this case and support programmes to help newborns start life free of HIV, even in much lower-income African countries, women increasingly have access to this treatment" Peter Takirambudde, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division, was quoted as saying in a statement.

Human Rights Watch urged Mbeki to lead the government in increasing budgetary support for HIV/AIDS programmes and in working with medical and public health leaders in South Africa who are already trying to strengthen both prevention and treatment programmes.