BDFM Online
Monday, November 20, 2006
Science and Health Editor
CAPE TOWN - Activists and HIV doctors have criticised government's draft AIDS plan, saying its treatment targets are too low and that more ambitious goals need to be set to save lives.
The South African National AIDS Council (Sanac) is planning to release a five-year strategy to guide response to SA's HIV/AIDS epidemic on December 1, to coincide with World AIDS Day.
Government aims to provide AIDS drugs to 650 000 adults by 2011, a goal civil society says falls far short of the anticipated need.
"That number is absurdly low. It needs to be recalculated," said Dr Francois Venter, president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians' Society, which made a detailed joint submission on the plan to Sanac with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the AIDS Law Project, and the Reproductive Health Unit from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Their critique says at least 800000 people need treatment now, and every year another 500000 HIV-positive people are expected to need life-prolonging antiretrovirals.
This suggests that by the end of 2011 about 3,3-million adults will need treatment, so the target would meet about 20% of that need, said Venter.
The plan also aims to provide antiretroviral drugs to 100000 children in the next five years.
The organisations questioned how Sanac came up with the targets in the draft plan.
"The numbers are a thumb-suck. There is no science behind them," said TAC chairman Zackie Achmat.
The plan needed to include an analysis of the number of people actually using services as a percentage of the estimated need, and link these figures to the targets set, the organisations said.
A key Sanac meeting today is expected to see civil society urge government to release only a broad outline of the plan on December 1 to allow more time to complete the detailed technical work required for attaining specific targets.
"We want to see the best possible plan," Achmat said.
Sanac's decision on the timing of the report is regarded by civil society as a litmus test of the new spirit of co-operation between civil society and government since the cabinet announced the formation of an interdepartmental committee on HIV/AIDS two months ago. The committee is headed by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ncguka.
The joint submission says it will take at least three months to finalise a technically sound plan.
The submission highlights many important gaps in the draft plan, such as access to medicines, drug prices and SA's desperate shortage of doctors and nurses.
The document advocates recruiting foreign health care workers to fill vacant posts, suggesting 20% of the positions should go to foreigners, rising to 50% by 2011.
The activists and clinicians also called for the plan to spell out a greater role for the private sector as the business sector's response was fragmented and unco- ordinated, the document said.