South Africa sued over Aids drugs

More than 4m South Africans are thought to have HIV

By Barnaby Phillips in Johannesburg

Aids activists and doctors in South Africa have sued the government over what they call its failure to provide enough drugs which prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to children.

The Treatment Action Campaign filed a suit in the High Court in Pretoria.

An estimated 70,000 HIV-positive children are born in South Africa every year and activists say there are drugs which could drastically reduce that figure.

South Africa was late to recognise the true scale of its Aids problem

Aids activists say the drug nevirapine is safe and affordable and they say it is no longer morally acceptable for the South African Government to delay its distribution.

They are also demanding that the government introduce a national policy to help reduce the transmission of HIV to children, including the provision to mothers of milk powder formula so that the virus is not passed though breast-feeding.

Politics

More than 150 HIV-positive children are born in South Africa every day.

Activists believe this number would be reduced by half if only the political will was there.

President Mbeki has questioned the link between HIV and Aids

The government has introduced nevirapine in a series of pilot projects but critics say these projects do not cover enough women and are starting up too slowly.

Aids activists say the government is half-hearted and they believe this attitude has its origins in President Thabo Mbeki's own doubts as to the causes of the disease.