South Africa's HIV/AIDS treatment program

The progress of South Africa's HIV/AIDS treatment program "so far is really a lesson in the power of balanced government and citizens' groups," columnist Tina Rosenberg writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

South Africa is "doing AIDS treatment on a mass scale," and "more than a quarter million South Africans -- more people than in any other nation -- are now taking antiretroviral drugs," she writes.

According to Rosenberg, "top officials can take little credit" because "[t]hey delayed the antiretroviral rollout, threw up obstacle after obstacle and have left large pots of money unspent."

Although "[s]ome regional governments ... have leapt at the chance to provide antiretrovirals," the "most important factor" in the progress of HIV/AIDS treatment programs in the country is the Treatment Action Campaign, which is "probably the world's most effective AIDS group," according to the opinion piece.

In addition, South African "courts have forced the government into action," Rosenberg writes. The South African government "should also be pushing the provinces that lag behind and encouraging South Africans to get tested and take their drugs," Rosenberg writes (Rosenberg, New York Times, 8/30).