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Fresh protests threatened by AIDS activists

    JOHANNESBURG

    South African AIDS activists, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) have threatened to renew their protests, should the government fail to provide HIV/AIDS drugs as promised, the BBC reported.

    The Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, said at a recent rally that the provision of drugs could not get under way as the health department was in a "shambles".

    The national antiretroviral plan, due to begin by the end of March, aims to provide drugs to about 50,000 people in 2004, rising to as many as 1.4 million HIV-positive people by 2009.

    A TAC spokesman, Denis Matwa, said: "If the health minister runs away from the treatment plan, we will not hesitate to go back to the streets. This time we will get much more support, both nationally and internationally."

    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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