ARV Access Remains a Challenge for HIV Patients. 26/11/08

Just over a quarter of South Africans living with HIV and Aids are getting the antiretroviral treatment they need, and only half of the women who need drug therapy to prevent them passing the virus to their babies are receiving it.

That's according to the international Aids Accountability Country Scorecard, an Aids Accountability International initiative that evaluates data provided by all United Nations members.

It's not all grim news about South Africa, however.

Civil society participation in HIV and Aids programmes has improved considerably in the past two years, and the country has scored an A for its work in co-ordinating responses.

South Africa scored well on the Aids Reporting Index, which measures whether governments are reporting on the pandemic.

"Reporting on national responses is so incomplete it is difficult to compare countries' performances," Aids Accountability International said.

The scorecard measures eight elements in national responses to Aids and grades each from A to E.

South Africa scored an A for co-ordination, B for civil society involvement, Cs for prevention and human rights "mainstreaming", Ds for treatment and data collecting, and E for financing.

South Africa apparently failed to say what proportion of its spending was on prevention. Last year, it said it spent $621.6-million on its response. This was about $109 for each of the estimated 5.7 million people with HIV, Aids Accountability International said.

This article was originally published in The Cape Times on Wednesday 26 November 2008.