South Africa fighting 1,500 new HIV/AIDS infections a day
Pastor Dale Morgan
South Africa fighting 1,500 new HIV/AIDS infections a day*
POSTED: 1256 GMT (2056 HKT), March 14, 2007
Story Highlights
• Nation has new plan to cut infections in half
• 5.5 million of 47 million South Africans infected
• 1,000 in South Africa die every day from AIDS
• New AIDS-fighting plan could cost up to $6 billion
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- South Africa launched a revamped
national AIDS plan on Wednesday as new research showed the high cost of
government inaction on the epidemic -- 1,500 South Africans infected
with HIV every day.
South Africa's National Strategic Plan, submitted for approval at a
conference, aims to cut new HIV infections by 50 percent and bring
treatment and support to at least 80 percent of HIV-positive people by 2011.
Health analysts hope South Africa is undergoing a basic shift in its
official approach to a disease that infects about 5.5 million of the
country's 47 million people and kills an estimated 1,000 South Africans
every day.
"The indications are there has been a genuine change of heart at the
highest level," the influential Business Day newspaper said in an
editorial on Wednesday.
President Thabo Mbeki's government has long been accused by activists of
underplaying the threat of the epidemic, soliciting views of "AIDS
denialist" scientists and questioning the efficacy and safety of
anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs.
While public pressure forced South Africa to launch one of the world's
largest public ARV programs -- with more than 200,000 people enrolled
and up to a million seen getting the drugs by 2011 -- many political
observers have continued to question government commitment to fighting
the disease.
Much of the hope around South Africa's new AIDS strategy has been fueled
by the sidelining of combative Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang
-- now on sick leave -- and the naming of Deputy President Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka as the country's top official on HIV policy.
AIDS activists have praised Mlambo-Ngcuka for her willingness to take a
fresh approach to battling the epidemic, and she said on Wednesday she
would be targeting men in particular to get serious about the disease.
"We know the linkage between gender-based violence and the spread of
AIDS. The indifference and non-action of so-called good men is
unhelpful," she told the meeting.
The human costs of South Africa's foot-dragging on AIDS were highlighted
on Wednesday with the release of a study which showed an estimated
571,000 new HIV infections in 2005: roughly 1,500 people a day -- well
above Health Ministry projections.
The research, published in the March edition of the South African
Medical Association Journal, said young people and particularly young
women were not being reached by current AIDS prevention efforts.
"Among young people in the 15-to-24-year age group, women accounted for
90 percent of all recent HIV infections," the researchers said.
The study also said a "substantial" number of children were infected
with HIV through means other than mother-to-child transmission, which
could fuel concern over child sexual abuse, and that residents of South
Africa's sprawling urban shantytowns had by far the highest incidence
rates of the disease.
Government officials said last week the new plan had a preliminary
budget of about $3.3 billion, but other estimates have put the costs as
high as $6 billion, leaving questions on where the extra money would
come from.