South Africa has more than five million people living with HIV and Aids, the
highest number of any country in the world, but as yet only a few thousand
have access to antiretroviral therapy. After a decade of Aids denialism, Thabo
Mbeki's government has promised it will roll out antiretroviral drugs to state
hospitals and says 50,000 people will get the drugs this year, rising to 1.4
million by 2009. But the programme is being stalled by endless rows with drug
companies, government prevarication and inaction. The Treatment Action Campaign
(TAC) accused the authorities of putting lives at risk by stopping new patients,
including children, from receiving antiretrovirals from its national drug
programme.
The Health Ministry blamed the pharmaceutical companies for failing to keep
up with demand for the drugs but the companies have responded that they could
supply enough drugs to treat everyone if they had firm orders. Mark Heywood,
of TAC, said the South African government was shirking its responsibilities
by blaming drug companies. "There should be no problem with supply. There
are supplies of all necessary essentials. The government needs to do better
planning." TAC's Zackie Achmat explained: "Our own investigations show that
the generic manufacturers and the brand name pharmaceutical companies have
sufficient supplies." "The government is placing the lives of children at
risk by playing games and manufacturing scarcity where none exists," he added.
Meanwhile, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Zulu leader of the South African Inkatha
Freedom Party, is mourning the loss of his daughter from Aids. Mandisi Sibukakonke,
48, died on 5 August. At her funeral, Buthelezi made an emotional appeal for
South Africa to do more to halt the Aids pandemic. "We have done too little,"
he said. "How much suffering and pain shall we bear before those who have
the responsibility open their hearts?"
Tony Blair outlined the UK's new £1.5 billion Aids strategy in the week after
the Bangkok conference. Britain will double its contribution to the Global
Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria over the next three years to £150 million.
A further £150 million will go to projects for Aids orphans, and millions
will go into funding research into prevention, vaccines and microbicides,
the Prime Minister announced. Blair said that the money would go to those
most affected by the disease. "We have placed a special focus on the needs
of women, young people and orphans. These are the people most vulnerable to
Aids in the developing world. "Ignoring the issue of Aids is not an option,
this is a tragedy that spans personal and global scales and it is appalling
that life expectancy in some of the worst affected areas is falling back to
pre-1950 levels," he added.
Hilary Benn, secretary of state at the Department for International Development
(DfID), said that securing human rights for people with HIV was central to
the strategy. "People whose human rights are abused are most vulnerable to
HIV and we will take all measures we can to ensure that human rights are respected
and discrimination outlawed." Nick Partridge, chief executive of THT, welcomed
the government's move but warned more action was also needed to tackle HIV
and Aids at home. "The government is showing real commitment and leadership
in the international fight against HIV and Aids, but it is very clear that
the domestic HIV epidemic is still not being given the priority it deserves,"
he said. Deborah Jack, chief executive at the National Aids Trust, said: "We
hope this commitment will be mirrored at home where new HIV diagnoses are
rising by 20 per cent every year and the culture of stigma and discrimination
surrounding HIV and Aids is often unchallenged." Meanwhile, the All Party
Parliamentary Group on Aids (APPGA) called on the government to to use its
presidency of the EU and leadership of the G8 next year to mobilise emergency
funds for Aids relief. It should use some of the €10 billion left unspent
by the EU for developing countries, the MPs and peers said.
