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SOUTH AFRICA: University anti-AIDS treatment plan hits snag
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
JOHANNESBURG, 10 February (PLUSNEWS) - An initiative by South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) to provide treatment to HIV-positive students has struck a snag, according to the local Sunday Times newspaper.
UKZN's innovative programme was the first at a tertiary institution to allow students access to low-cost anti-AIDS drugs, counselling and medical consultations.
Only 20 people have enrolled since the programme's inception in 2004, despite a 1999 study showing a 16 percent AIDS prevalence among the 40,617 staff and students.
Prof Salim Abdool Karim, who founded the initiative, commented, "The main reason, in my opinion, for these numbers on treatment being low is our lack of capacity to scale up voluntary counselling and testing, and to encourage even larger numbers of students to come forward for testing."
[ENDS]
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