In the last few months the South African government has softened its extreme opposition to the use of antiretrovirals, saying that it will allow nevirapine in state hospitals to prevent mother to child transmission of the virus. This followed a landmark court victory by TAC against the country’s health ministry last summer.
Last month the South African Medical Research Council reported that nine per cent of South African deaths are now attributable to the disease. Aids is now the leading cause of death among the country’s young women.
But the Press Association reports President Mbeki as saying that deaths from Aids were “being exaggerated.”
Meanwhile the New Scientist reports that the Johannesburg City Parks Agency is planning to use disused mineshafts to accommodate the increasing numbers of people dying from Aids in the city area.

City officials are planning to convert old gold mines into catacomb-style cemeteries, accessed from ground level by elevators, to help solve space problems.
“This year we will bury about 20,000 people. In 2010, unless someone develops a cure for Aids, we expect that figure to be about 70,000,” said Alan Buff.
In a separate development, South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang told the Guardian newspaper that her country could not afford drugs to fight HIV because it needs submarines to deter attacks from nations such as the USA.
“Look at what Bush is doing. He could invade,” she said.
The minister said the priority for South Africans with HIV was food and called on donors to help feed them.

For the first time in the history of Aids more women than men now have HIV, according to new statistics from UNAIDS.

The 2002 global update from the United Nations body, published to coincide with World Aids Day, showed that more than half of the 42 million people now living with the virus across the