S. Africa Fights Order on AIDS Drug

The government announced Wednesday that it will challenge a court order to widen access to a key AIDS drug, saying the ruling may infringe on its constitutional right to determine policy.

The Pretoria High Court ordered the government Friday to institute a comprehensive program to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and make the drug nevirapine available to HIV-positive pregnant women. Studies show nevirapine can reduce HIV transmission from mother to child during labor by 50%.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said the appeal “is aimed at clarifying a constitutional and jurisdictional matter that, if left vague, could throw executive policymaking into disarray and create confusion about the principle of the separation of powers, which is a cornerstone of our democracy.”

An estimated 4.7 million South Africans--almost one in nine--are HIV-positive, the highest number of any country in the world, and the government has been criticized as having a haphazard and often confusing approach to combating the epidemic.

Tony Leon, leader of the Democratic Alliance, the country’s main opposition party, said, “It equals a death sentence for thousands of babies that could otherwise be saved.”

German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has offered free distribution of nevirapine, but the government argues that the drug’s safety is unproven.