In 1998 alone, at least 35,000 children in South Africa were born with HIV infection. Almost 23 percent of pregnant South African women who used prenatal care clinics were seropositive. This position is diametrically opposed to that of many countries where, as in Canada, pregnant women may undergo voluntary testing for HIV and, if they are seropositive, receive free antiretroviral treatment with a view to preventing the transmission of HIV to the child.
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The Ministry of Health has made medical, hygiene, and community workers indignant by canceling all its pilot programs dealing with access to prenatal antiretroviral prophylaxis logistic and administrative analysis, training of counselors, start-up measures for the purchase and storage of medicines, and research on alternatives to breastfeeding. Moreover, it is expected that there will be a drastic downward effect on the progress accomplished by the campaign to which the South African Ministry of Health has committed itself to reduce infant mortality and improve care for pregnant women and to which it is constitutionally bound. Several documents will be provided free of charge. The Legal Network is a partner organization of the AIDS Law Project, South Africa .