Catholic Bishops announce free AIDS drug roll-out

The Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) has pledged to provide free antiretroviral drugs within a week to people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The SACBC, which represents bishops from South Africa, Swaziland and Botswana, said it would begin providing the free drugs at five church-run projects and hoped to expand the programme to 19 projects when funding was secured. According to Reuters, the bishops also called on the South African authorities to roll out the national antiretroviral drug programme, and criticised the government for its slow response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Although the cabinet approved a plan for a national HIV/AIDS treatment programme in November 2003, drug distribution has not yet begun.