South Africa Announces Aids Policy Turnaround

In a breakthrough for the Aids crisis facing South Africa, president Thabo Mbeki's government agreed yesterday to distribute state funded anti-retroviral drugs to rape victims.

"At last, an Aids policy," declared South African newspaper the Daily Mail & Guardian, heralding the promised distribution of the drug Nevirapine to victims of sexual assault and, in the aftermath of a court case, to pregnant women.

The policy is a major turnaround for a government that has previously denied a causal link between HIV infection and Aids and has denounced anti-retroviral drugs such as AZT as an attempt to poison black people.

"It's good news beyond belief," said Zackie Achmat, chairman of the Treatment Action Campaign, an Aids activist group. "Common sense has prevailed ... we applaud the government for doing the right thing."

The cabinet said that the drug would not be distributed until the publication of a new national policy on the treatment of victims of sexual assault, a process expected to take at least six months. In the meantime, the cabinet agreed to establish a presidential task force on HIV and Aids.

Nevirapine has been shown in studies to cut mother-to-child HIV transmission in half, however the government had restricted its use to 18 pilot projects, arguing that Nevirapine's safety is unproven. Aids groups sued the government to force its wider distribution.

Earlier this month the country's highest court ordered that the drug be made available immediately at health facilities across the country. In line with that court order - which the government will appeal next month - the cabinet yesterday issued guidelines for Nevirapine's distribution.

For rape victims, the offer of the anti-retroviral drug will come with counselling about its possible health risks.

The country's health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, said: "Government will endeavour to provide a comprehensive package of care for [rape] victims, including counselling, testing for HIV, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections."

Both rape and Aids have become epidemics in South Africa: the health department estimated last year that 4.7 million South Africans - one in nine - were HIV positive, and a Human Rights Watch report found that about half of schoolgirls endure some form of sexual assault.

The cabinet denies charges that it has not done enough to stem the Aids crisis, saying a total of 1bn rand (£62m) had been budgeted for anti-Aids programs in the current financial year, a figure that would rise to 1.8bn rand in 2004.