Court backs South Africa AIDS ruling

Campaigners claim better access to Nevirapine could save ten children a day

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- HIV-infected pregnant South Africans must be given anti-AIDS drugs, the country's highest court has ruled.

The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday the government must make the anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine available in all state hospitals until an appeal against a similar order made in a lower court is heard.

South Africa's health ministry has said the country's health infrastructure is insufficient to distribute Nevirapine nationwide and President Thabo Mbeki has questioned their effectiveness.

The Constitutional Court is due to hear next month the government's appeal against the lower court's ruling that Nevairapine should be nationally availablae

It will decide if the government has a constitutional duty to provide Nevirapine to all state hospitals on a permanent basis. Currently it is only available at 18 pilot projects.

Studies show Nevirapine can reduce transmission of HIV from mother-to-child by up to 50 percent, and a recent government-commissioned study has recommended it be made available to HIV-positive women.

Campaigners fighting the spread of the virus say widening access to Nevirapine could save 10 babies a day.

After the Constitutional Court issued its interim order on Thursday, dozens of AIDS activists from the Treatment Action Campaign cheered and danced outside the court in Johannesburg.

Mark Heywood, a group leader and head of the AIDS Law Project at the University of the Witwatersrand, said the ruling could save the lives of many babies who would have become infected as the government appealed.

"They most certainly will get Nevirapine before the final ruling," he said.

An estimated 4.7 million South Africans, about 11 percent of the population, are infected with HIV, according to statistics from the World Health Organization and the AIDS Foundation of South Africa.

Mbeki has drawn widespread criticism at home and abroad for questioning the link between HIV and AIDS and refusing to allow wide access to anti-retroviral drugs, saying they are costly and toxic.

Nelson Mandela, who on Thursday, gave his support to Mbeki's ambitions of a second term as president, has been amongh those criticising Mbeki's AIDS stance.

The health department has argued that inadequate infrastructure is in place to administer the drug properly and tried to restrict its distribution to the 18 pilot sites.

Government lawyer Marumo Moerane used similar arguments in front of the Constitutional Court on Thursday:

"Government intervention must be structured. We don't want down the road to be faced with a catastrophe," he said.

In December, the Pretoria High Court ruled in favour of AIDS activists and a group of paediatricians who wanted health authorities to be ordered to make Nevirapine available to all HIV-positive pregnant women.