The South African government must provide HIV treatment to pregnant women to help prevent transmission of the AIDS-causing virus to their unborn children, a court ruled today.
The case had been brought by a non-governmental group to force the government to provide retro-viral drugs under the public health care system.
Health authorities had argued that the country lacked resources to distribute the anti-AIDS drug Nevirapine to all HIV-positive pregnant women.
A government survey last year found that 25 percent of pregnant women in South Africa were HIV positive. An estimated 70,000 babies are infected with HIV in the country every year.
AFP
