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President makes HIV/AIDS treatment promise

    JOHANNESBURG

    President Thabo Mbeki has promised in his State of the Nation address that more than 50,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa will have access to free drugs by March 2005, as part of the newly launched national treatment plan.

    Research shows the country has one of the highest prevalence rates in the world, with an estimated 5.3 million, or one in nine people, living with the HI virus.

    Although criticised in the past for failing to deal with the pandemic, the government earlier this year launched a free anti-AIDS programme in three provinces.

    "We have already started with the implementation of our comprehensive plan on HIV/AIDS. One hundred and thirteen health facilities will be fully operational by March 2005 and 53,000 people will be on treatment by that time," Agence France-Presse quoted Mbeki as saying.

    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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