Saturday, July 26, 2008

New York Times Examines Prevention Of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission In South Africa

The New York Times on Sunday examined the South African government's adoption of a national treatment strategy to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. The country's Department of Health announced in January that it will begin requiring the World Health Organization -recommended strategy, which includes zidovudine and nevirapine.

Although some HIV/AIDS advocates are "celebrating the government's new policy," they also have said that South Africa "should have put it into practice long ago," the Times reports. Sibani Mngadi, a department of health spokesperson, said that the government had to review data and consult various people at WHO after the agency issued its guidelines in 2006. "There were a number of issues to be debated," he said (Dugger, New York Times, 3/9).

In related news, Reuters/Washington Post on Friday examined a recent government report that found a lack of financial resources could undermine the sustainability of South Africa's national HIV/AIDS plan.

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