South Africa: AIDS Activists Ask About Funds for Battle

The fourth South African AIDS Conference concluded in Durban Friday amid concern that limited resources would hamper the nation's fight against its AIDS epidemic.

In 2007, only 700,000 people in South Africa had access to antiretroviral drugs. An additional 1.2 million will need ARVs by 2011, according to the AIDS group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). In the 2008-2009 period, "the shortfall between what has been budgeted for and what it would actually cost just to meet the treatment needs is over 1 billion rand [US $110 million]," said Mark Heywood of the AIDS Law Project.

During a Thursday protest, TAC said an estimated 30 people with HIV/AIDS in Free State died each day between November 2008 and April 1, 2009, a period during which the province stopped ARV treatment for new patients due to a budget deficit. Free State resumed treatment when the new fiscal year began April 1.

"Our lives are important," said Nonkosi Khumalo, TAC's national chairperson. "We cannot be sitting here for a week talking about scaling up for success when scaling up is not going to be funded."

"As a community of health promoters, we must ensure that health services are not cut, but sustained," said South African Health Minister Barbara Brown, who received a standing ovation from conferees. Noting the spirit of solidarity among participants, she said, "The issue for all of us is how to spend the resources we do have with efficiency and increase the pot."

In conference debate over how best to track the nation's progress against AIDS, participants heard that the most effective means -- following groups over time -- was also slow and expensive. One suggestion was to carefully select sentinel sites and ensure that data are disseminated to stakeholders.

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