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Top AIDS activist to begin AIDS treatment

    JOHANNESBURG

    A leading South African AIDS activist has abandoned a personal pledge not to take HIV/AIDS drugs, the Associated Press agency (AP) reported on Monday.

    Addressing a crowd at the current national AIDS conference in the coastal city of Durban, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) director, Zackie Achmat, accused President Thabo Mbeki of not caring about people living with HIV/AIDS.

    "We are not going to die because they want us to die," Achmat said.

    The TAC national manager, Nathan Geffen, confirmed that Achmat would begin taking generic versions of HIV/AIDS drugs as soon as he'd had the appropriate medical tests.

    "We need Zackie to live through this and not become a victim of the government's denial and arrogance," Geffen added.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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