Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 9/20/2006

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U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) -

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - SOUTH AFRICA: Labour urged to demand sacking of health minister

1 - SOUTH AFRICA: Labour urged to demand sacking of health minister

JOHANNESBURG, 19 September (PLUSNEWS) - A leading AIDS activist caused a stir by

demanding the South African health minister's removal in the presence of the

deputy president at a conference on Tuesday.

" Our government has failed us. We must speak the truth. We are willing to work

with you [the government] anytime; you have ignored our letters; you have not

spoken to us, but we are ready to talk, " Zackie Achmat, leader of the AIDS lobby

group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) told Deputy President Phumzile

Mlambo-Ngcuka at a conference of the Congress of South African Trade Unions

(COSATU) outside Johannesburg.

He urged COSATU, the largest labour organisation, to support his call for the

dismissal of minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, perceived as an AIDS dissident.

But his demand was met with a deafening silence at the session devoted to the

pandemic; " I think people were too shocked to respond, " said a delegate.

TAC has long been at loggerheads with Tshabalala-Msimang. She and President

Thabo Mbeki have drawn international criticism for seemingly to under sell

antiretrovirals (ARVs) in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Achmat had the delegates on his side when he commented on Mlambo-Ngcuka's

attempts to make the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) more effective.

" We want SANAC to work on the basis of law, not on the whim of the minister

[Tshabalala-Msimang]. We want a report every week to our president on the number

of people who are infected [with HIV], and how many people are on treatment, " he

said as delegates roared their approval.

Mlambo-Ngucka sought to distance the government from the AIDS dissidents and in

a significant turnaround acknowledged that a sharp increase in the number of

deaths among young adults was " plausibly explained only by an increase in

AIDS-related deaths " .

Adopting a conciliatory tone she said, " There are difficulties and

misunderstandings that we need to deal with to improve the climate for practical

joint action, and all of us owe it to our nation to do so. "

The deputy president also emphasised that a " healthy lifestyle and good

nutrition " were not alternatives to treatment.

Tshabalala-Msimang, who had often highlighted the importance of nutrition over

antiretrovirals in treating people with HIV/AIDS, attempted to set the record

straight in a statement by her spokesman, Sibani Mngadi. " The ministry

reiterates its position that nutrition is not an alternative to treatment.

Antiretroviral drugs can prolong lives of those with full-blown AIDS, and the

department of health is making these drugs available in at least 231 health

facilities in the country. "

COSATU president Willie Madisha urged the government to scale up the national

response to the pandemic by setting a target of having at least 800,000 people

on ARVs by 2008.

A study by the University of Cape Town's Centre for Social Science Research

showed that at the end of 2005 an estimated 194,000 people were accessing

anti-AIDS drugs in South Africa, of which only 57.8 percent were obtaining them

from the public sector. An estimated 5.5 million of South Africa's 47 million

people are living with the HI virus.

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Subscriber: AIDS treatments

[Guest guest]

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) -

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - SOUTH AFRICA: Labour urged to demand sacking of health minister

1 - SOUTH AFRICA: Labour urged to demand sacking of health minister

JOHANNESBURG, 19 September (PLUSNEWS) - A leading AIDS activist caused a stir by

demanding the South African health minister's removal in the presence of the

deputy president at a conference on Tuesday.

" Our government has failed us. We must speak the truth. We are willing to work

with you [the government] anytime; you have ignored our letters; you have not

spoken to us, but we are ready to talk, " Zackie Achmat, leader of the AIDS lobby

group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) told Deputy President Phumzile

Mlambo-Ngcuka at a conference of the Congress of South African Trade Unions

(COSATU) outside Johannesburg.

He urged COSATU, the largest labour organisation, to support his call for the

dismissal of minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, perceived as an AIDS dissident.

But his demand was met with a deafening silence at the session devoted to the

pandemic; " I think people were too shocked to respond, " said a delegate.

TAC has long been at loggerheads with Tshabalala-Msimang. She and President

Thabo Mbeki have drawn international criticism for seemingly to under sell

antiretrovirals (ARVs) in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Achmat had the delegates on his side when he commented on Mlambo-Ngcuka's

attempts to make the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) more effective.

" We want SANAC to work on the basis of law, not on the whim of the minister

[Tshabalala-Msimang]. We want a report every week to our president on the number

of people who are infected [with HIV], and how many people are on treatment, " he

said as delegates roared their approval.

Mlambo-Ngucka sought to distance the government from the AIDS dissidents and in

a significant turnaround acknowledged that a sharp increase in the number of

deaths among young adults was " plausibly explained only by an increase in

AIDS-related deaths " .

Adopting a conciliatory tone she said, " There are difficulties and

misunderstandings that we need to deal with to improve the climate for practical

joint action, and all of us owe it to our nation to do so. "

The deputy president also emphasised that a " healthy lifestyle and good

nutrition " were not alternatives to treatment.

Tshabalala-Msimang, who had often highlighted the importance of nutrition over

antiretrovirals in treating people with HIV/AIDS, attempted to set the record

straight in a statement by her spokesman, Sibani Mngadi. " The ministry

reiterates its position that nutrition is not an alternative to treatment.

Antiretroviral drugs can prolong lives of those with full-blown AIDS, and the

department of health is making these drugs available in at least 231 health

facilities in the country. "

COSATU president Willie Madisha urged the government to scale up the national

response to the pandemic by setting a target of having at least 800,000 people

on ARVs by 2008.

A study by the University of Cape Town's Centre for Social Science Research

showed that at the end of 2005 an estimated 194,000 people were accessing

anti-AIDS drugs in South Africa, of which only 57.8 percent were obtaining them

from the public sector. An estimated 5.5 million of South Africa's 47 million

people are living with the HI virus.

jk/he/oa

[ENDS]

This is non-reply e-mail. Please do not hesitate to contact us at

Mail@....

Principal donors: IRIN is generously supported by Australia, Canada, Denmark,

ECHO, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and

the United States of America. For more information, go to:

http://www.IRINnews.org/donors

[This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information

service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its

agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer

to the copyright page (Http://www.irinnews.org/copyright ) for conditions of

use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

Affairs.]

PLUSNEWS

Tel: +27 11 895-1900

Fax: +27 11 784-6759

Email: Mail@...

To make changes to or cancel your subscription visit:

http://www.irinnews.org/subscriptions

Subscriber: AIDS treatments