South Africa's Constitutional Court today ordered the government to give HIV-infected pregnant women access to a key Aids drug that could prevent the transmission of the virus to their babies.
Aids activists celebrated the ruling as an important victory in their fight to change the government's often-criticised Aids policy.
"It's the dawn of the next phase in the battle against HIV/Aids in South Africa," said Dr Haroon Saloojee of the Save Our Babies Campaign, a coalition of paediatric health care workers that was part of the suit.
The suit demanded the government make the drug nevirapine available to all infected pregnant women through the public health system and develop a comprehensive programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the deadly virus.
Studies show a dose of nevirapine given to infected pregnant women during labour followed by a dose given to the newborn baby can reduce transmission of HIV by up to 50 per cent.
The Constitutional Court said the government's refusal to immediately expand its small nevirapine pilot programme violated the nation's Bill of Rights, which guarantees the right to health care.
While welcoming the ruling, the activists also lamented the fate of the estimated 40,000 babies whose infections could have been prevented since the suit was filed last year.
Some 4.7 million South Africans - one in nine - are HIV positive, more people than any other country in the world.
The government has been criticised for its often lacklustre approach to fighting the disease and for President Mr Thabo Mbeki's flirtation with dissident Aids theorists, who doubt Aids existence and the safety and effectiveness of Aids medicine.
AP