AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Tue, 12 Feb 2002

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Tue, 12 Feb 2002
-----------------------------------------------

Mbeki May Expand Nevirapine Program for Pregnant Women Despite Unre-
solved Problems

South African President Thabo Mbeki indicated on Sunday that he may 
expand a government pilot project to distribute nevirapine to HIV-
positive pregnant women beyond the current 18 test sites, Agence 
France-Presse reports. Mbeki said on a South African Broadcasting 
Corporation television show that he will "not necessarily" wait until 
problems at the 18 sites have been resolved before broadening the 
program. "I am quite sure that what the minister of health will de-
cide will be that, in the instance that in one area where we are 
ready to move, then let us move. I don't think they would say, let us 
wait for the slowest [site]. They would have to say let us make sure 
that the slowest catches up with the rest," he said. He also ex-
plained that "merely ... dispensing" nevirapine is not enough to pre-
vent vertical HIV transmission, pointing out that breastmilk can act 
as a conduit for the virus. "That's one of the issues we have to ad-
dress: what capacities do we have to assist poor women, who don't 
have enough food for themselves to eat, to ensure that they then are 
able to access the necessary food for this infant?" he added. 

Reaction to Mbeki's State of the Nation Speech

The remarks mark the second time in the past week that Mbeki has ad-
dressed the nevirapine program. The health ministry was ordered in 
December by the Pretoria High Court to expand the nevirapine program 
to all public hospitals, but it is in the process of appealing that 
verdict (Agence France-Presse, 2/10). In his state of the nation ad-
dress on Friday, Mbeki said that the government was "committed to 
fighting AIDS," but he did not say that the program would be ex-
panded. AIDS advocates and political opposition leaders were dismayed 
by Mbeki's remarks, which did not "depart dramatically" from his pre-
vious statements. He has been criticized in the past for questioning 
the causal link between HIV and AIDS. "We had expected the president 
to come out clearly and say that HIV causes AIDS," Zackie Achmat of 
the Treatment Access Campaign, the group that brought the lawsuit 
challenging the government to expand treatment access, said (Maykuth, 
Knight Ridder/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/9). Democratic Alliance 
leader Tony Leon said that the speech represented a "business-as-
usual approach to the major crises that need to be addressed," adding 
that it was a "massive missed opportunity" for the president to ad-
dress HIV/AIDS. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a member of Mbeki's coalition 
Cabinet and leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party, said HIV/AIDS is 
"the biggest challenge, the major disaster facing [South Africa], and 
we would have wished for something more specific and far-reaching" in 
the state of the nation address. United Democratic Movement President 
Bantu Holomisa added that if Mbeki does not expand the nevirapine 
program, "it means that the classrooms he plans to build will not be 
occupied" and "the homes he says he is going to build, nobody is go-
ing to occupy those homes" (Simmons, Los Angeles Times, 2/9). A Sun-
day Independent editorial also noted that the government's current 
stance on nevirapine "defies rationality" and "begs the question of 
just whose interest" the policy serves (Sunday Independent/Washington 
Times, 2/9).

Calls for New Grant Money

In other South African news, the Democratic Alliance on Friday sent a 
letter to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel asking the government to ap-
ply for HIV/AIDS assistance from the now operational Global Fund to 
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, saying that the government 
"could not afford to ignore this opportunity," the South African 
Press Association reports. Applications must be submitted by March 
10, but Manuel said at the recent World Economic Forum that South Af-
rica would not be applying for funds because they are unnecessary. 
"This statement belies the reality of South Africa as a country 
wracked by poverty and crippled by disease," DA social development 
spokesperson Sandy Kalyan said, adding, "There are countless projects 
across the country which are workable and easily implemented, but 
which are being hamstrung by a lack of money" (South African Press 
Association, 2/10). South Africa's National Association of People 
Living With HIV/AIDS also called on the government to import cheaper 
generic AIDS drugs and to set aside a "social grant" for poor people 
with the disease to use to purchase food and other necessities (South 
African Press Association, 2/11). Meanwhile, the Western Cape Net-
working AIDS Community of South Africa has asked HIV/AIDS organiza-
tions and the government to "present a united front" against the dis-
ease. "(The) problem is that the debate is too antagonistic. We must 
work more close[ly] with government to ensure that people on the 
ground get the help they need desperately," NACOSA Chair Saadique 
Karriem said (SABCNews.com, 2/9).       

--
The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, 
a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National 
Journal Group Inc. © 2002 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser 
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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