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Government AIDS prevention programmes under fire

    JOHANNESBURG

    South Africa's long-awaited 2003 HIV/AIDS and Syphilis Sero-prevalence Report reveals that more people are contracting HIV than ever before, drawing criticism of the government's prevention programmes.

    Although the report shows the prevalence rate among people aged 25 to 29 rose by 0.9 percent from 34.5 in 2002, and by 1.4 percent from 29.5 percent in the 30 to 35 age group, the government said the increases were "insignificant".

    Mark Heywood, a spokesman for the AIDS advocacy group, Treatment Action Campaign, said the increases were "extremely disturbing", considering the amount of financial resources being put into prevention programmes.

    A local newspaper, the Star, quoted Heywood as saying: "With the amount of varied campaigns we have, we should be seeing a reduction. But this is not happening because, at a national government level, there is a continuous refusal to alert the country to HIV."

    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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