Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2005 out of a population of more than 866 000 persons needing it immediately,
only 85 000 people received treatment in the public health sector by the end of that
year (South africa 2005; Pembrey 2008). by 2006, the World Health Organization
(wHo) stated that approximately 67 percent of South africans who needed art had
not received it and should only expect to receive it in the medium to long term (see
wHo, UnaIDS, and UnIceFF 2007; Pembrey 2008).
the South african government has been equally criticised for its slow response
in making the drug nevirapine available to HIv-positive pregnant women to help
prevent the transmission of the virus to their babies. In 2000, the South african
Department of Health announced plans to establish two sites for PMtct in each
of the nine provinces of the South africa. that, however, did not solve the issue of
making antiretroviral drugs available to HIv-positive pregnant women. lawsuits were
subsequently filed against the government in 2001 at South Africa's constitutional
court, which called into question the safety of the drugs and their effectiveness, in
spite of the consensus medical opinion.
the following year the constitutional court ordered the minister of health to
distribute nevirapine to HIv-positive pregnant women. Despite government claims
that the drug had been made available throughout the country, it dragged its feet
when it came to introducing dual therapy—where HIv-positive mothers are given the
required dosages of zidovudine (AZT) as well as nevirapine. In affluent opposition
stronghold communities such as in the western cape Province, where dual therapy
had been administered since 2004, the rate of mother-to-child transmission had been
reduced by more than 8 percent, compared to areas such as the limpopo Province,
where the rate is over 22 percent in the absence of art. In 2006, an estimated
64 000 babies were diagnosed with the disease in the country through mother-to-
child transmission (38 000 infected at birth and 26 000 infected through breast milk)
(Dorrington et al. 2006a, 27).
the South african government's slow response to administering art has often
been blamed by aIDS activists in South africa for the subsequent infant mortality
and the continual rise in HIv/aIDS-related deaths. However, researchers point
out that this is only part of a wider problem facing HIv-positive South africans.
the prevalence of misinformation about the disease has not only curtailed efforts
to increase access to art, but it has also been blamed for creating a climate of
confusion has enabled prejudice toward HIv-positive people to thrive despite efforts
by the government's aIDS awareness programmes. It is often said that HIv is a
'poor person's' disease, affecting mostly the most marginalised segment of society.
although there is a correlation between high HIv prevalence and extreme poverty,
unemployment, and illiteracy, HIv is prevalent in all racial and socioeconomic
groups.
Although HIV-positive people from largely affluent white neighbourhoods
began publicly announcing their status as early as 1998, the stigmatisation
surrounding the disease has continued to dominate largely black townships such
as Soweto and alexandra. In october 1998, as deputy president, Mbeki issued the
Declaration on Partnership against aIDS (South africa 1998), which called for an
 
 
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