'Turning point' for SA Aids fight

The government has been heavily criticised in recent days

Aids activists have welcomed a funding deal signed by the South African Government which would allow money to be spent on anti-Aids drugs in KwaZulu-Natal province.

Nathan Geffen of the Treatment Action Campaign told BBC News Online that although late in coming, they hoped this signalled a shift in the government's controversial policy towards treating those with Aids.

The $41m deal with the Global Fund to fight Aids was reached after two years of negotiations.

It was signed a day after the end of the country's first national Aids conference, which was dominated by criticism of the government's failure to make anti-retroviral drugs available to all.

Meanwhile, the Cape Times newspaper is reporting that a cabinet meeting on Friday is due to adopt the report of a joint task team on enhanced anti-retroviral treatment.

They are likely to decide on the phased release of the drugs at pilot public health-care facilities, the newspaper says.

Crisis epicentre

The deal for KwaZulu-Natal is reported to have been personally approved by President Thabo Mbeki.

In the past the South African Government was reported to have wanted the resources to go to its own national fund instead.

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But this latest announcement made it clear that the money would go to the province and would be spent on anti-retroviral drugs.

The head of the Fund, Richard Feachum, hailed the signing as "a turning point" in South Africa's fight against the disease.

South Africa has the highest number of HIV/Aids cases in the world - almost five million - according to the United Nations agency that deals with Aids, UNAids.

KwaZulu-Natal is particularly badly hit and is deemed to be at the epicentre of the crisis.

Death phase

Experts warned at the Durban conference that ended on Wednesday that South Africa was now entering a "death phase" and that mortality rates would rise rapidly.

President Mbeki has come under fire from Aids activists both locally and internationally because of his stated belief that factors other than HIV could lead to Aids.

They blame his Aids policies for the slow progress in the fight against the disease in South Africa.

His health minister has also been strongly criticised and was booed by delegates at the start of the conference.