Which country in Africa will now treat all HIV-positive babies?
From telegraph.co.uk: South Africa to provide treatment for all HIV-positive babies South Africa will treat all HIV-positive babies and expand testing in a dramatic shift in policy for a country that has more people living with the virus than any other. By Sebastien Berger in Johannesburg Published: 6:58PM GMT 01 Dec 2009 In an announcement on World Aids Day that signalled a break with the denialist policies of his predecessor Thabo Mbeki, President Jacob Zuma pledged a major increase in the provision of anti-retroviral medicines (ARVs) to HIV patients. The country has more people with HIV – an estimated 5.7 million – than any other in the world, but distribution of ARVs was delayed for years by Mr Mbeki, who questioned the link between HIV and Aids, and his health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who advocated beetroot, garlic and lemon juice as treatments for the disease. From next April, all HIV-positive babies under one will receive ARVs, mother-to-child transmission prevention w
South Africa will treat all HIV-positive babies and expand testing, the president announced Tuesday, a dramatic and eagerly awaited shift in a country that has more people living with HIV than any other. President Jacob Zuma’s speech on World AIDS Day was viewed as a definitive turning point for a nation where the previous administration distrusted drugs developed to keep AIDS patients alive and instead promoted garlic treatments. One Harvard study said that resulted in more than 300,000 premature deaths. Zuma compared the fight against AIDS to the decades-long struggle against the apartheid government, which ended in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela in the country’s first multiracial elections. “At another moment in our history, in another context, the liberation movement observed that the time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight,” Zuma said. “That time has now come in our struggle to overcome AIDS. Let us declare now, as we decl
South Africa will treat all HIV-positive babies and expand testing, the president announced Tuesday, a dramatic and eagerly awaited shift in a country that has more people living with HIV than any other. President Jacob Zuma’s speech on World AIDS Day was viewed as a definitive turning point for a nation where the previous administration distrusted drugs developed to keep AIDS patients alive and instead promoted garlic treatments. One Harvard study said that resulted in more than 300,000 premature deaths. Sources: http://www.google.
