ANC NEC CONDEMNS AIDS COURT ACTION.

The ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) criticised the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) on Sunday for taking the government to court over the use of Nevirapine. "The NEC viewed as unfortunate the court case brought against government by the TAC," an African National Congress statement on the weekend's NEC meeting said. "The meeting agreed government's approach to mother-to-child transmission of HIV is correct, given that so little is currently known about the longer term effects of the drug." The Aids lobbyists launched a court application in the Pretoria High Court last month to force the government into making Nevirapine available to HIV-positive pregnant woman. The NEC also expressed concern over "the extent of infrastructure and resources required to administer it (Nevirapine) and the level of counselling and monitoring required to ensure its potential benefits are not reversed". "The ANC is committed to treatment programmes which are responsible, effective and sustainable," the NEC said. It welcomed the fact that HIV/Aids was being widely debated which created more awareness about the disease. However, it ...