Mbeki signals Aids policy shift

One South African in 9 has HIV or Aids

President Thabo Mbeki has delivered his strongest message yet on HIV/Aids, suggesting a change in the government's approach to the disease.

You can't be going around having hugely promiscuous sex all over the place and hope that you won't be affected

Thabo Mbeki

In an interview with the Star newspaper, Mr Mbeki promised to take the lead in fighting Aids.

He has in the past been criticised for questioning the link between the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Aids and refusing wide access to anti-retroviral drugs, saying they are costly and toxic.

The interview follows a cabinet meeting last week that resulted in a policy shift on Aids.

Loud message

In the interview on Wednesday Mr Mbeki promised to provide strong leadership on the pandemic.

Mr Mbeki's policy frustrates health services

"Perhaps we are not communicating that (message) loud enough," he said.

The president told South Africans: "You can't be going around having hugely promiscuous sex all over the place and hope that you won't be affected by something or other."

Correspondents say Mr Mbeki's stand suggests that the government has decided to step up its fight against HIV/Aids in a country where it affects almost five million people - over one South African in nine.

U-turn

Last week's cabinet meeting stopped short of acknowledging the link between HIV and Aids as a fact - but it said in a statement it would act on the "premise" that the human immunodeficiency virus caused Aids.

The cabinet also reversed a ban on the treatment of rape victims in state hospitals with anti-retroviral drugs, saying they would be allowed if patients accepted the risk they posed.

Source: Medical Research Council

The government also announced plans to offer universal access to anti-retroviral drugs in 2003 in an effort to prevent women infecting their babies during childbirth.

Aids activists hailed the turnaround as a significant policy shift, but urged the government to make up for lost time.

Mr Mbeki clashed last year with the state-funded Medical Research Council over Aids and said crime and poverty were the biggest killers.

The council said in a report that Aids would kill up to seven million people by 2010 if the state continued its policies on treatment and prevention.