Ndungane, head of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, was reported as
saying that the church's recent meeting of bishops had asked him to focus on
having a state of emergency declared on World AIDS Day on 1 December this
year. He added that it was imperative for a united and concerted leadership
to address the pandemic so as to avoid public denial and complacency, the
report said. "To that end we have already developed a working relationship
with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the SA Catholic
Bishops Conference, the SA Council of Churches, African Indigenous Churches
and other faith based organisations," Ndungane was quoted as saying.

"We can no longer afford to dabble in statistics and semantics. This whole
issue is about real people who suffer real pain and are entitled to basic
human rights. It is incumbent on all leaders in all sectors to move in
unison and to move fast," Ndungane added. The Anglican Church of the
Province of Southern Africa incorporates South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland,
Namibia, Mozambique, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. It serves more than two
million members, the report said.

SOUTH AFRICA: South African AIDS vaccine to be tested soon

South Africa's first locally developed prototype AIDS vaccine is likely to
be tested within the next few months, the 'Beeld' newspaper reported on
Wednesday.

Medical Research Council (MRC) chief Dr Malegapuru Makgoba, showed a bottle
of the vaccine, called Alpha Vax Pilot #1, to delegates of the Black
Management Forum in Johannesburg last week, the report said. Alpha Vax, a US
North Carolina pharmaceutical company that manufactures the vaccine, would
ship the first consignment of the vaccine to the country as soon as it had
been approved by the South African Medicines Control Council(MCC).

MRC Corporate Affairs manager Nandi Solomon was reported as saying the drug
had been approved by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for
first phase trials. The FDA would make its written report available as soon
as MCC approval procedures were completed, Solomon said. This is likely to
happen by the end of November.
"The first day of trails will depend on approval by the ethics committee and
this will hopefully be by March next year," she was quoted as saying.
PlusNews is produced under the banner of RHAIN, the Southern African
Regional HIV/AIDS Information Service. RHAIN's members currently include:
UNAIDS-ICT/ESA, IRIN, SAfAIDS, PANOS, Health Systems Trust, Health
Development Networks, GTZ/Afronets