More than 210,000 people in AIDS-hit South Africa are on antiretrovirals (ARVs) in programmes run by the state, the private sector and non-governmental bodies, the chief government spokesman said Wednesday.
"With 134,473 people initiated on ARV treatment by the end of March, and an estimated 80,000 initiated in the private and NGO sector, South Africa today has the largest ART (anti retroviral treatment) programme in the world," Joel Netshitenzhe said.
"While much more needs to be done in this regard, the advances… are cause for hope," the local SAPA news agency quoted him as saying.
In early February, South African President Thabo Mbeki said more than 100,000 people were receiving free antiretroviral drugs.
South Africa has one of the world's biggest AIDS caseloads with around one in seven people, or 6.5 million, living with HIV or AIDS, according to the health ministry.
AIDS activists estimate that as many as 500,000 HIV positive South Africans are in need of life-saving drugs.
