The South African Constitutional Court has upheld an interim order from a court in Pretoria, requiring that nevirapine should be provided to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, wherever present clinical circumstances would allow this.
This judgment, delivered by Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, does not require immediate provision of nevirapine to all pregnant women with HIV. However, it should prevent South African health ministers from taking action against individual doctors and clinics who decide that they can and should provide nevirapine as part of their duty to care for their patients.
The main issue, which is whether the courts have the right to intervene in health policy on human rights grounds, is still subject to an appeal to the South African Constitutional Court by the Federal Health Minister and eight Provincial Health Ministers, and is due to be heard on 2 May.
The Constitutional Court has already indicated that it will not confine itself to a narrow constitutional view of the issue, by asking both the governments and the treatment activists who originally took them to court to submit evidence on the case for or against full-scale provision of nevirapine.