Low marks for government AIDS drug rollout

The South African AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), has urged the government to treat at least 200,000 adults and children by 2006. During the 2nd national AIDS conference in Durban this week, the TAC and the AIDS Law Project released an assessment of the state's treatment programme. The report, entitled "Let Them Eat Cake", found that the government's performance should be rated "C, veering towards a D," Mark Heywood, head of the AIDS Law Project (ALP) and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) executive member, said during a press briefing. Nevertheless there were some units within the Department of Health that were making "tremendous effort" and could be rated "B or even A", he admitted.