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Sasco calls for ARVs on campus

    JOHANNESBURG

    The South African Students' Congress (Sasco), a student activist group, on Wednesday called for universities to provide HIV-positive students with anti-AIDS treatment.

    "The impact [of AIDS] on the national student financial aid scheme and the deaths we are witnessing on our campuses signal a crisis," Sasco secretary-general Terror Yako was reported as saying. The scheme is a government-funded loan programme for needy students.

    While almost all tertiary education institutions have campus healthcare centres, many are reluctant to provide details about what services are offered to students living with HIV/AIDS, Business Day newspaper reported.

    Yako said Sasco believed the state-funded tertiary education institutions were best placed to provide antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. Most students made use of on-campus health services rather than the government's ARV programme because they were often in classes or had travelled far distances.

    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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