A high court judge ruled Monday that South Africa must provide women with an AIDS drug that cuts the risk of passing HIV to their babies. The government, which has been widely condemned for refusing to expand a nevirapine pilot program to all pregnant women on cost and safety grounds, had appealed a ruling ordering it to provide the drug while it takes its case to the Constitutional Court.

The Pretoria High Court ruled in December the government had a constitutional duty to widen access to nevirapine, which has been shown to cut mother-to-child transmission by up to 50 percent. Earlier this month, the High Court granted the government leave to appeal but stipulated it had to provide nevirapine while the appeal was pending. The government then sought to overturn that ruling, but was turned down Monday, meaning it must provide nevirapine while the Constitutional Court hearing takes place. No date has been set yet for the Constitutional Court case. Judge Chris Botha said nevirapine must be given to HIV-positive pregnant women at all state hospitals and clinics with the capacity to do so.

South Africa's Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu welcomed the court's ruling, saying he hoped the government would abide by it. Tutu said South Africa should emulate poorer countries like Uganda, which was reversing the AIDS pandemic. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which launched the original court action over the drug, contends that 10 lives could be saved each day if the government implemented Botha's ruling immediately. The government was not immediately available for comment. "We expect a few difficulties in terms of the government's political will to implement this court order. But we hope that the government will in the end care more about the lives of women and children affected by this," TAC spokesman Nathan Geffen said.

Back to other CDC news for March 26, 2002

Previous Updates | Search the CDC archive