Government ordered to provide Nevirapine pending appeal

The Pretoria High Court on Monday ordered the South African government to provide nevirapine to all HIV-positive pregnant women until the Constitutional Court rules on the matter in May.

Judge Chris Botha issued an execution order stating that the government must provide the drug through all public health facilities "with the capacity for testing and counseling", news reports said. The government currently offers nevirapine at only 18 pilot sites throughout the country.

Botha was reported as saying that although health facilities might be "inconvenienced" by the execution order if the government ultimately won its appeal, the distribution of nevirapine in the meantime would result in a "gain in lives saved which cannot be considered a loss." He said the public health system could "afford the extra [patient] load" of approximately 30 women per day.

Today's execution order will not apply to the provincial governments of the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, which already supply nevirapine in state hospitals.

Last month, KwaZulu-Natal withdrew from the government's appeal of a December ruling, and the province hopes to offer nevirapine in 20 public provincial hospitals by July.

The Western Cape province has established 30 test sites to offer antiretroviral drugs to HIV-positive pregnant women and rape survivors, and the premier of Gauteng province has also announced plans to distribute nevirapine through public health facilities.