There was no breach between the United Nations and the South African government over HIV/Aids, the health department said on Tuesday in reaction to an article in The New York Times.
According to the article about a book published by the UN special envoy to Africa on Aids, Stephen Lewis, there was an ”extraordinary breach” between the government and the UN.
”In the latest report to the UN General AssembIy Special Session on Aids, the Secretary-General of the UN Kofi Annan singled out and commended South Africa for tripling its resource allocation for HIV and Aids programmes since the adoption of the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV and Aids in 2001,” the department said in a statement.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) progress report on the expansion of Aids treatment also emphasised that South Africa had done much to expand its HIV/Aids treatment.
”South Africa has committed $1-billion over the next three years to scaling-up anti-retroviral treatment, by far the largest budget allocation of any low- or middle-income country,” the WHO said.
”There are clear channels of interaction between South Africa and various UN agencies and none of the UN employees are banned from carrying out their duties in this country.”
The department said it was committed to ”continue working together with various UN agencies in a global response to HIV and Aids”. – Sapa