Global Policy Forum

AIDS activists from the advocacy group, AIDS Therapeutic Treatment Now, South Africa (ATTN SA) on Tuesday expressed outrage and frustration over the move by the South African government to cut its AIDS budget by two-thirds. ATTN/SA charged that, without explanation, the Treasury has cut the initial budget of R296 million (about $42m) to R90m for the first phase of the rollout of treatment, up to the end of next month.

"This budget cut serves as the death knell for the fleeting promise of widespread treatment access to life-saving AIDS drugs that our government promised us here in South Africa," Swazi Hlubi, lead coordinator of ATTN/SA) and executive director of the Network of AIDS Communities of South Africa (NetCom, SA) said in a statement. "We had such renewed hope with the treatment plan unveiled by our government in September, but once again, our government has dashed our hopes and we are angered and saddened over this ploy and call on the government to reconsider these cuts."

And Terri Ford, director of Advocacy for AIDS Healthcare Foundation and operator of the 'Ithembalabantu' (people's hope) free AIDS treatment clinic in KwaZulu Natal, Durban, said "it is an outrage that South Africa would announce a treatment plan after years and years of delay to only then pull the hopes of their people away with this short-sighted and heartless funding cut." Ford noted that more than almost any other country in the world, South Africa has been truly ravaged by AIDS.

South Africa's national HIV/AIDS treatment plan was approved last November by cabinet but distribution of the drugs in government clinics has not yet started. Around 5.3 million people have HIV/AIDS in South Africa, which is among the highest countries affected with HIV/AIDS in the world.

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