Rights Group Accuses Mbeki of AIDS Inaction
An international human rights group accused South Africa’s president of neglect in regard to the AIDS epidemic sweeping his country.
New York-based Human Rights Watch urged President Thabo Mbeki to take urgent action to slow the spread of AIDS. Mbeki has been criticized for questioning whether HIV leads to AIDS.
An independent study by the government’s Medical Research Council found up to 7 million South Africans could die of AIDS by 2010.
But the government has disputed the findings and refuses to make AIDS drugs available through the public health system, saying they are unaffordable.
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