SARAH BOSELEY, London | Monday
The South African government has no intention of buying the antiretroviral drugs that can keep people with HIV/Aids alive in spite of its courtroom victory over pharmaceutical companies that were trying to block the import of cheap medicines, says its health minister.
In an interview with the Guardian, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said her government is now looking to use the legislation – that the drug companies tried to block – to obtain cheap antibiotics for tuberculosis and other infections that kill people whose immune systems are damaged by HIV.
But the government intends to resist pressure from local and foreign Aids activists to buy antiretroviral treatment for the 4.2m with HIV in South Africa, on the basis that the cost is still too high and that -as the drug companies say – the country lacks the clinics and trained health workers to distribute the drugs safely.
The state was doing what it could, she argued. ”Some are going to be disappointed that we are not going to give the ARVs [antiretrovirals] tomorrow, but it is this message which does not get through – that people are getting treatment even if there are no ARVs.”
The government must limit itself, she said, to obtaining drugs for TB and for infections such as the fungal-based candidiasis which kill HIV-positive people, and must help and advise on good nutrition to keep people well while investing in prevention measures.
FULL REPORT
ZA*NOW:
Patients the winners – drug case decision April 19, 2001
Lets make a deal April 19, 2001
Drug firms to drop case? April 18, 2001
First salvoes fired in new drug war April 18, 2001
Use the weapon of dialogue – Mandela April 16, 2001
Mandela’s fund recognises Grip April 14, 2001
Africans not dying of Aids: dissident April 9, 2001
Aids report: condoms or cucumbers? April 7, 2001