South African religious leaders and AIDS activists appealed to the government on Thursday to declare the HIV pandemic a national emergency and to provide the leadership needed to fight it. "No one in our country can afford to deny the terrible extent of this epidemic," the group said in a statement.
Equity in Health
SOUTH AFRICA: Religious leaders and AIDS activists urge government to declare AIDS national emergency
Further details: /newsletter/id/28876
SOUTH AFRICA: Rural communities fight back against HIV/AIDS
EASTERN CAPE, 21 May (IRIN) - The Daliwonga clinic in South Africa's impoverished Eastern Cape province has become the area's best-known
landmark. The pristine brick-built structure stands in stark contrast to the dusty thatched huts that surround it. The clinic, funded by big business, was opened a year ago by former President Nelson Mandela, in his drive to
bring development to communities like Daliwonga, 50 km from the nearest tarred road.
Further details: /newsletter/id/28553
South Africa: Save 3 Million Lives And Prevent 2.5 Million Infections!
Treatment Action Campaign Statement
Urgent action by Government can save 3 million lives of people living with HIV/AIDS by 2015, reduce the number of orphans and prevent new infections. New research demonstrates the enormous social and economic costs our country will face if government does not lead civil society and the private sector in the use of antiretroviral therapy. The Treatment Action Campaign's (TAC) call for a national treatment plan by government with clear budgets and time-frames is the only chance this government has to avoid a social catastrophe.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29349
SOUTH AFRICA: STATE SOFTENS STANCE ON AIDS DRUGS
The government's stance on the use of anti-retroviral drugs is increasingly softening, with Deputy President Jacob Zuma saying their use could improve the condition of people living with AIDS. This represents a major shift in the government's position, which had been that anti-retroviral drugs were toxic.
South Africa: Steps in the Right Direction
The war on Aids takes a new turn with local filmmakers involving themselves in the largest HIV-awareness television series to date, writes Jann Turner.
south africa: tac threatens civil disobedience campaign
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) will start a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience if Government has not adopted an HIV/AIDS treatment plan, that includes antiretroviral therapy in the public sector, by the end of February 2003. In a document circulated on the Internet, the TAC said it had initially planned the campaign for December, but had been told that government needed until February to implement a national treatment plan, leading to the decision to postpone the disobedience campaign until February.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29458
South Africa: Technology Benefits Not Available to All
Technology is not delivering healthcare services to a large number of lowincome groups covered by medical aid, says Robert Dale, marketing director of Telg Africa.
South Africa: Virgin Myth Worries ANC Committee
An African National Congress-dominated (ANC-dominated) parliamentary committee has noted that 25% of young people believe child rape cures AIDS, and urgently called for anti-AIDS drugs to be used to prevent HIV infection by rape.
South African AIDS ACTIVISTS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE AND HOPE
Zackie Achmat, a South African who is a leading proponent of an international solution to the AIDS crisis, was in New York in November, just as his government at long last delivered on the demands that he and other activists have pushed for years - that it develop a comprehensive treatment plan for its 4.5 million citizens living with HIV. Achmat was blistering in his critique of the failure of world leaders to confront the scourge of HIV. At the top of his list was the American president. "The greatest threat to public health in the world is George Bush staying in power," he said.
south african AIDS Meeting Ends with Call for Treatment
Scientists and activists at South Africa's first national AIDS conference, which drew to a close on August 6, urged the government to roll out rapid drug treatment for millions of South Africans dying from the disease. "The message is: don't wait. You've got to do something, and you have got to do it now," Salim Abdool Karim, scientific chair of the conference, told Reuters. "This is not an attack on the government. This is scientific fact." The four-day conference was a watershed in South Africa's public debate on AIDS policy, which is dominated by angry efforts to persuade the government to launch a national treatment program with antiretroviral drugs, which many scientists say represent the only way to avoid catastrophe.