SAFRICA'S ANTI-AIDS LOBBY SEEKS GOVERNMENT ACTION.

South Africa's foremost anti-AIDS lobby on Saturday vowed to exert more pressure on the government in its bid to achieve adequate treatment for those infected with the disease. "Next year we're going to make sure the government adopts a treatment plan and that generic anti-retrovirals become available in our country," Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) chairman Zackie Achmat said. He was speaking at a ceremony to commemorate World AIDS Day in Cape Town, one of several events staged around the country and aimed at drawing attention to the AIDS crisis in South Africa. In South Africa more people are infected with HIV/AIDS - an estimated 4,7 million or one in nine of the population - than anywhere else in the world. The TAC is suing the government over its failure to implement a wide-ranging programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus through the use of anti-retrovirals like Nevirapine. "We think that the possibility is strong that we'll get a good judgement, he said. Judgement is expected by December 25. Achmat, himself HIV positive, said his organisation was prepared to stage a civil ...