Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa is reviewing its AIDS treatment programs and encouraging people to get tested for HIV as it seeks to reverse years of government neglect of the disease, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said.

South Africa has one of the world’s highest HIV prevalence rates, with an estimated 10.6 percent of its 49 million people infected, government data shows. On average 29.3 percent of pregnant women who sought treatment at public health facilities last year were HIV-positive, a health department survey found.

“We are at war with HIV,” Motsoaledi told reporters in Cape Town today. “We need to plan the biggest voluntary counseling and testing program ever seen in the world” and ensure AIDS patients get access to treatment sooner.

South Africa’s AIDS epidemic ballooned under former President Thabo Mbeki, who questioned the effectiveness of scientifically proven drugs and refused to be tested in public for HIV. President Jacob Zuma’s administration, which took office in May, has made combating AIDS a priority.

The approach taken by the Mbeki government was “shocking,” Motsoaledi said. “I don’t think we would have been here if we had approached the problem in a different way. I am personally not going to allow any other approach to tackling AIDS that cannot be proven scientifically.”

The government aims to reduce new HIV infections by half and provide treatment to 80 percent of those who need it by 2011. It is also seeking to reduce the cost of drugs and increasing access to condoms.

“Prevention is still the mainstay of dealing with each and every disease,” Motsoaledi said. “Treatment must be a last resort.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: November 10, 2009 09:35 EST