SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa's highest court of appeal yesterday ordered the government to provide the anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine to HIV-positive pregnant women at state hospitals that have the required testing and counselling capacity.
The unanimous decision by the 11 judges of the Constitutional Court meant that government resistance to making the drug available beyond the 18 designated pilot states was thwarted until another scheduled hearing in the Constitutional Court in a month's time.
Yesterday's decision - greeted first by shocked silence from government legal representatives and then by jubilation from AIDS activists - came after two earlier decisions by High Court Judge Chris Botha. In the first, delivered in December last year, Judge Botha found the government was contravening the rights of citizens set out in the Constitution by withholding anti-retroviral drugs from patients in state hospitals. He ordered the government to supply the drugs where it had the capacity to do so.
The government appealed against that ruling to the Constitutional Court, which will hear argument by opposing counsel on May 2nd and 3rd. Aside from appealing, however, the government insisted the status quo applied until the judgment was handed down on its appeal.
It consequently refused to provide anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-positive pregnant women in the interim.
In the second judgment, delivered last month, Judge Botha, responding to an application from AIDS activists against the government's stance, ruled that state hospitals should supply the drug until the Constitutional Court ruled on his original judgment.
The government then appealed against Judge Botha's second ruling, only to have its appeal rejected yesterday.
Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson said the court's decision "obliges the government to comply immediately" with Judge Botha's second ruling "until this court gives its judgment" on Judge Botha's original ruling.