Court Battle Begins Over Access to Drugs for HIV-Positive Women in South Africa

A lawsuit aimed at forcing the South African government to distribute AIDS drugs to all HIV-positive pregnant women began in Pretoria today with AIDS activists' lawyers arguing that the ruling would be "a matter of life and death."

The activists and hundreds of the country's pediatricians want the drug nevirapine made available through the public health system. The German-based pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim offered to distribute the drug for free, but the South African government says its safety has yet to be proven and restricted its distribution to a handful of pilot sites. Gilbert Marcus, an AIDS activists' advocate, described the state's position as arbitrary, unreasonable and irrational. He said it amounted to a consensus decision that could cause "potentially thousands of predictable but avoidable deaths of children."

Quoting government figures, Marcus said almost 23 percent of pregnant women in South Africa were HIV-positive, yet only 10 percent of these had access to nevirapine. More than 4.7 million South Africans -- one in nine -- are HIV-positive.

Earlier Monday, about 200 AIDS activists marched to the Health Ministry to demand improved access to medication. They waved banners reading: "Save Our Babies" and chanted "[President] Thabo Mbeki, what you are doing is not right." The protestors laid white crosses etched with names of children who have died of AIDS on the gray concrete steps of the ministry building before marching to the courthouse. "People have lost their children because they didn't have the medicine," said Julia Matimulale, a 27-year-old AIDS activist from Soweto. "I don't want there to be any more children lost."

Back to other CDC news for November 26, 2001

Previous Updates