Thousands March for AIDS Drug in South Africa
Originally published by Reuters Health, May 2, 2002
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) — Thousands of South African AIDS activists marched Thursday to demand access to nevirapine as the state appealed against a court ruling that it must offer the drug immediately.
The protesters waved placards and sang songs outside the Constitutional Court, where the state began an appeal against a lower court ruling that it has a constitutional duty to offer immediate access to nevirapine, a drug that can reduce vertical HIV transmission.
The South African government has provoked international controversy by questioning the link between HIV and AIDS and blocking wide access to drugs it deemed costly and toxic.
South Africa has the highest rate of HIV infection. Between 70,000 and 100,000 infants are born HIV-positive in South Africa each year and charity groups estimate the country will have nearly one million orphans by 2005.
"By denying women medicine that can protect their babies from HIV, the government is denying them the right to dignity and healthcare," said the Treatment Action Campaign, an AIDS activist group that has led the fight for nevirapine. "It is also denying children their right to life," it added in a statement.
The government has already said that it will roll out nevirapine in 2003, but activists say that is too little, too late. They want immediate, nationwide provision or at least a timetable for a speedier rollout of a drug program they say could save 30,000 to 40,000 babies each year in the country.
Three thousand placard-waving activists in white shirts and with red ribbons around their arms sang protest songs from the apartheid era that have been reworded to fit the new struggle against AIDS.
The case before the Constitutional Court centers on whether a court can dictate government policy and whether the government has a constitutional duty to provide antiretroviral agents. The 2-day hearing is scheduled to end Friday and a decision is expected in 1 month.
