Government inaction before 1994 is the main reason why HIV infection has not been curbed, the Department of Health said on Tuesday.
"It was only after the advent of democracy that tangible efforts were made by government to curb the spread of HIV infection; provide treatment, care and support for those infected and affected; and address the stigma associated with HIV and Aids," a statement read.
This was in response to Monday's release of a report on HIV/Aids by the United Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The report noted that at least 85% of South Africans needing anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) had not received them by mid-2005. It found that ARVs and preventing infection are key to halting deaths from the disease.
The department said the report's emphasis on the need to strengthen prevention programmes is in line with the South African government's approach to the disease.
It is also the resolution of the WHO-Afro regional meeting of health ministers held in Maputo earlier this year.
The challenge now is to sustain positive sexual behaviour among the under-20s -- the group where HIV prevalence has been found not to have increased -- into early adulthood and beyond.
To do so, the department had declared 2006 as the year of accelerated HIV and Aids prevention and will intensify its prevention and healthy lifestyle programmes.
UN Joint Programme on HIV/Aids South Africa coordinator Mbulawa Mugabe said service-delivery difficulties in South Africa affect its ability to provide medication effectively and match the work done by other countries.
The government has put resources forward, but it is difficult to move these and strengthen health-sector capacity.
The report blamed Aids for a 62% increase in deaths of South Africans of 15 years and older from 1997 to 2002 and a more-than-50% rise in deaths in the 25-to-44 age group.
The Aids epidemic has evolved at an "astonishing speed" in South Africa, with national adult prevalence of less than 1% in 1990 soaring to almost 25% within 10 years, it found.
New evidence shows a decrease in HIV infections in countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe -- where investment in HIV services in the 1980s is now starting to make its mark.
According to the report, 40,3-million people are living with HIV throughout the world, up from 37,5-million in 2003. More than three million people -- more than 500 000 of them children -- died of Aids-related illnesses in 2003. -- Sapa
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