For three days, South African scientists, AIDS activists, health workers and public servants came together under the theme “Dira Sengwe”, a seTswana phrase meaning “Take Action”.
Many hot issues were under discussion. At the centre of the debate was the government’s controversial attitude towards anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine, which prevents mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Some days before the conference, South African Medical Control Council (MCC) stunned and angered anti-AIDS activists when it announced that it might withdraw temporary approval for Nevirapine. Activists called this shift a “political game”. Lee Jong-wook, World Health Organization Director General, also reproached this policy.
The government was also accused of not providing anti retroviral therapy through concrete measures. Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, was booed by activists (headed by the NGO Treatment Action Campaign) for delaying the drugs to manage the disease. They are lobbying government to make anti-retrovirals, drugs that ease the effects of HIV and AIDS and reduce the spread of the disease, freely available in the public health system.
The official response was quite optimistic: "we are in the process of finalising several international agreements to ensure access to medication to the many people infected with HIV and AIDS”, said South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director, called for immediate action. He stated that “throughout the world, the debate is not on whether to offer antiretroviral treatment in the public sector, but how to do it given the numerous real constraints (…). But for Heaven's sake, let us not wait to act until we have the perfect solution, because the era of perfect solutions is still far away”.
With regards to the use of generics, the TAC launched at the Conference a new company to sell cheap anti-retroviral drugs. The company, known as the Generic Anti-retroviral Procurement Project (GARPP), was launched after a demonstration where protestors marched in the streets of Durban carrying wooden crosses and posters with the names of those who have died from the disease.
