Aids activist organisations and civil groups have hailed the Cabinet’s statement this week announcing that the government is considering universal access to anti-retroviral drugs.
The move is one of several proposals to strengthen the government’s efforts to fight HIV/Aids.
Mark Haywood, the Treatment Action Campaign’s (TAC) spokesperson, said the announcement was as important as the Cabinet’s April 17 statement, which he said was the government’s first clear indication it was adopting a ”rational approach” to treating HIV/Aids.
”We had been waiting since the April statement for some concrete proposals,” said Haywood.
The Cabinet this week announced that a technical task team drawn from the Treasury and the Department of Health was working out the cost implications of providing anti-retroviral drugs to all sectors of society. The team was also involved in efforts to lower the cost of anti-retrovirals to make them available to all HIV-positive people.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which has been supporting the TAC’s campaign for universal access to anti-retrovirals, also welcomed the Cabinet statement as a ”victory for rational thought”.
”This is definite proof that the orthodox approach to treating HIV/ Aids has prevailed,” said Vukani Mde, Cosatu’s spokesperson.
He said the union federation would fully support the government’s efforts, but was cautiously optimistic about how the government might deal with the cost findings of the task team.
”The government’s refusal to implement the Taylor Commission on Comprehensive Social Security’s recommendation for a basic income grant because of cost implications is a case in point. We would like to point out to the government that the cost implications of not treating HIV/Aids sufferers will be far worse.”
The South African National NGO Coalition (Sangoco) expressed ”cautious optimism” about the decision.
”We are relieved to see some progress in the reorientation of the government on its Aids policy,” said Mark Weinberg, Sangoco’s spokesperson.
After the TAC’s Constitutional Court victory forcing the government to provide anti-retrovirals to HIV-positive pregnant women, the Cabinet in April announced that it would also extend the treatment to survivors of sexual assault. The Mail & Guardian reported two weeks ago that only 20 000 of the estimated six million HIV-positive South Africans had access to anti-retroviral drugs through private medical-aid schemes.
Des Martin, president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, welcomed the government’s announcement. ”We would now like to see the words translated into action.”
Haywood said the government merely had to licence generic treatment packages to bring down costs.
The Cabinet announced that a New Partnership for Africa’s Development programme was working with pharmaceutical companies to manufacture affordable drugs for TB and HIV/Aids.
The Cabinet also announced that all provinces would be expanding the programme to provide nevirapine to all HIV-positive pregnant women. It announced that KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, North West and the Western Cape had already extended coverage to a large number of public health institutions.
The TAC has also responded positively to the government’s attempts to establish public sector ”centres of excellence for HIV/Aids care in all provinces”. These centres will develop curriculums for HIV/Aids and TB care, and will disseminate guidelines and provide technical training to health workers on providing support to HIV-positive patients.
The Cabinet reported that only 2000 of the 27 000 registered medical doctors have the skills to provide HIV/Aids care. The government is collaborating with academic institutions to train more doctors in Aids care.
The government will also investigate the experience of the private sector in treating HIV/Aids. It would also consider setting up medium-term pilot projects to study the operational challenges of providing anti-retroviral treatment.
Haywood said the government did not have the time to launch medium-term projects and should concentrate on short-term programmes.
He said the TAC had submitted a proposal to the National Economic Development and Labour Council to provide anti-retroviral drugs to 100 000 HIV-positive people within a year. Haywood said his group was willing to provide the government with support and expertise to help fight the pandemic.
The government is also supporting investigations into complementary treatments to boost the immune system of those with HIV/Aids. It announced that a draft protocol for research into complementary treatments was being considered by the Medicines Control Council.