San Francisco Chronicle Profiles South African AIDS Advocacy Group Treatment Action Campaign’s Zackie Achmat

The San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday profiled Zackie Achmat, who is chair of the South African AIDS treatment advocacy group Treatment Action Campaign. Achmat, who is HIV-positive, had refused since 1999 to take antiretroviral treatment until all South Africans gained access to the drugs. With the government on the verge of announcing a national treatment plan, Achmat began treatment in August at the request of friends and colleagues and because of his ailing health. Achmat has become "an international symbol of the once quixotic quest to bring cheap AIDS drugs to Africa," according to the Chronicle (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/18). The complete article is available online.

A webcast of a speech by Achmat at a forum on HIV/AIDS treatment in South Africa, which was sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Public Welfare Foundation, is available online.