Shot in the arm for HIV/Aids treatment and for public-private partnerships in South Africa

South Africa's Treasury has set aside an extra 8.4 billion rands ($1.09 billion) for HIV/AIDS over the next three years, reflecting its commitment to improving the quality of services for people affected by the disease and doubling the number of patients getting life-saving antiretroviral therapy, reports the local newspaper, the Business Daily.

Conditional grants to the provinces for HIV/AIDS are set to rise from 6.01 billion rands in fiscal 2010-11 to 7.43 billion rands in 2011-12 and 8.77 billion rands in 2012-13. These are ring-fenced grants that are transferred to the provinces via the national Department of Health and cannot be used for any other purpose, the newspaper notes.

The country's President, Jacob Zuma, announced last December that the government would introduce new HIV treatment guidelines by April 1, allowing patients who are pregnant or infected with TB to start treatment when their CD4 count, which measures the strength of the immune system, falls to 350, instead of waiting until it reaches 200. All HIV-infected babies are to get treatment straightaway, instead of waiting until they get sick. According to the Treasury, the new measures will save an extra 10,000 lives a year.