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NGO puts first thousand on AIDS treatment

    JOHANNESBURG

    An HIV/AIDS project in a township outside the South African city of Cape Town has put its 1,000th patient on anti-AIDS drugs.

    The project launched in February 2000 in Khayelitsha township by the international medical NGO, Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) and the Western Cape government, has been hailed as a model for a country struggling with one of the world's highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates.

    The head of mission for MSF South Africa, Dr Eric Goemaere, said in a statement: "We have reached 1,000 people on treatment, but we are still nervous about the challenges ahead ... reaching this scale shows that something can be done."

    MSF said it wanted to expand the programme to have 1,700 people on antiretroviral treatment by the end of this year.

    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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