Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, announced that the country will attempt to supply treatment for all HIV-positive children. South Africa carries the highest rate of HIV-positive people of all countries in the world with more than one in ten citizens currently diagnosed with HIV. According to researchers HIV usually affects those in their childbearing ages, and more than 2.4 million children have been left stranded by HIV so far. According to Ivor Chipkin, chief research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council in Tshwane, 32 percent of all young South Africans will have lost at least one of their parents to HIV by year 2015.

Many people blame the policies of the former South Africa President, Thabo Mbeki, for the widespread AIDS epidemic in the country. Mbeki often disputed the link between HIV and AIDS and was against the widespread distribution of antiretroviral medications. Instead he encouraged HIV-positive people to eat garlic and beet roots, and to drink lemon juice to deter HIV. People believe that Mbeki’s attitudes and actions could have contributed to as many as 330,000 early deaths.

President Zuma, who was the Vice President to Mbeki, is trying to lengthen the gap between his and his predecessor’s policies. South Africa offers anti-retroviral (ARV) treatments to 700,000 HIV patients, over double the 216,000 patients from last year. At roughly $1,500 a year for each treatment it can get a bit pricey. Fortunately, foreign donors have often provided treatments free of charge, and the US ambassador to South Africa has announced that the United States will contribute another $120 million for next year’s AIDS treatment and research.

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