SOUTH AFRICA ANNOUNCES FIVE-YEAR HIV STRATEGY

South Africa's Department of Health has announced its new multimillion-dollar plan to combat HIV, which includes significant funding for HIV treatment, through 2011.

The main goals of the plan are to reduce the number of new HIV infections by half and to reduce the impact of HIV and AIDS by expanding access to treatment, care and support.

Roughly half of the program's funding will go toward providing antiretroviral drugs to the majority of HIV patients. The government estimates there were 5.54 million people with HIV in South Africa in 2005.

The plan seeks to provide continued guidance to all government departments and sectors of civil society. It builds on a previous plan, which had as its major weaknesses poor coordination at the level of the South African AIDS Council as well as a lack of clear targets.

The plan can be viewed at www.doh.gov.za/docs/misc/stratplan-f.html ( http://www.doh.gov.za/docs/misc/stratplan-f.html ).