2000 - The Department of Health outlined a five-year plan to combat AIDS, HIV and STIs. A National AIDS Council was set up to oversee these developments. At the International AIDS Conference in Durban, the new South African President Thabo Mbeki made a speech that avoided reference to HIV and instead focused on the problem of poverty, fuelling suspicions that he saw poverty, rather than HIV, as the main cause of AIDS. President Mbeki consulted a number of 'dissident' scientists who rejected the link between HIV and AIDS.
2001 - The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women was 24.8%.
2002 - South Africa's High Court ordered the Government to make the drug nevirapine available to pregnant women to help prevent the transmission of HIV to their babies. Despite international drug companies offering free or cheap antiretroviral drugs, the Health Ministry remained hesitant about providing treatment for people living with HIV.
2003 - In November, the Government finally approved a plan to make antiretroviral treatment publicly available. The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women was 27.9%.
2004 - The rollout of antiretroviral drugs began in Gauteng in March, followed shortly afterwards by other provinces.
2005 - At least one service point for AIDS related care and treatment had been established in all of the 53 districts in the country by March, meeting the Government's 2003 target. However, it was clear that the number of people receiving antiretroviral drugs was well behind initial targets. The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women was 30.2%.
http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm
