AIDS activist listed for Nobel Peace Prize

A U.S. Quaker humanitarian group, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), said on Monday that it nominated Zackie Achmat and the organization he founded, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), for their work in fighting HIV/AIDS.

Achmat and TAC have been instrumental in getting South Africa to respond to its staggering AIDS crisis. More than 5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the country -- the highest count for any nation. President Thabo Mbeki had for years denied the magnitude of the epidemic, but the government has recently begun taking steps to produce and distribute expensive AIDS drugs at a steep discount.


"Through mass mobilization, civil disobedience, legal action, extraordinary personal sacrifice and visionary leadership, Zackie Achmat and TAC have helped to galvanize a global movement to provide hope and gain access to treatment for those with HIV/AIDS," the AFSC said in a statement.

Achmat, 40, grew up in a Muslim community in Cape Town. His activism started with the anti-apartheid movement, and he later established the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (1994). He started the TAC in 1998 and has since been considered South Africa's most important dissident since Nelson Mandela.


Achmat started the world's first drug strike in 1999, when he refused to take antiretroviral drugs for his HIV infection. The highly effective drugs were too expensive for most South Africans (close to $10,000 per year per U.S. patient), and generic versions were unavailable.


In August, a very ill Achmat ended his strike, saying that his death would not help the cause, which had gained considerable momentum. Last month -- to the delight of the TAC and other global AIDS groups -- South Africa's government approved a plan to distribute free antiretroviral drugs within five years to all who need them.

The AFSC's nominating committee said on Monday that "the nonviolent campaign by Zackie Achmat and TAC has in a relatively short time made a significant contribution in the global struggle against AIDS and for peace and security that is deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize."

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