South African Health Ministry Sees Aids Pandemic 'stabilising'

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - The AIDS pandemic in South Africa is "slowly stabilising", the health ministry said as it released figures showing that close to 28 percent of pregnant women tested positive for HIV in 2003.
The new figure is based on a survey in South African prenatal clinics released late Wednesday and drew sharp criticism from a top AIDS lobby group and opposition politicians.
The survey which is used every year to project AIDS infection rates in the general population, said it estimated that some 5.6 million people were infected with HIV by the end of 2003 -- 300,000 more than the year before.
"HIV prevalence among pregnant women in 2003 was observed to be 27.9 percent in comparison with a prevalence of 26.5 percent for 2002," said the report on HIV and syphilis prevalence at prenatal clinics.
"In addition, over the recent five years despite the observed prevalence being high, the trend remained at a relatively lower rate. These findings in general seem to suggest that the epidemic is slowly stabilising," the document stated.
But AIDS activist Mark Heywood, spokesman for the influential Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) lobby group, disagreed.
"It doesn't mean the epidemic is slowly stabilising at all. The only reason they (the government) are trying to say that is because they are trying to give credence to their claims that they are managing the epidemic effectively," he told AFP.
"An epidemic that has been brought under control does not stabilise with a year-on-year growth. And if it should stabilise at these high rates, it will be very worrying," Heywood added.
He said people were dying of AIDS in "quite large numbers".
"That would normally have a downward pull on these statistics, and despite the deaths of many women of child-bearing age we still have high rates. This is very problematic."
The report added that AIDS was losing ground among teenagers since 1999, except in 2003 when the prevalence rate went up again by one percent -- from 14.8 to 15.8 percent.
The health ministry described the increase as "marginal" in its report.
"Stability observed particularly among teenagers and the non-significant difference between the national figures for HIV prevalence for 2002 to 2003 all point to an epidemic in stabilisation phase," the report concluded.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance slammed Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for releasing the report "in the quietest possible way".
"The figures continue to increase, and that is not 'stabilising'. The report proves the government's prevention campaign is not succeeding," DA health spokesman Ryan Coetzee said.
South Africa has one of the highest AIDS rates in the world.

The government early this year finally bowed under pressure from rights groups and started rolling out a national treatment programme at state hospitals but it has been criticised for its slow progress.