President Jacob Zuma of South Africa announced that all South African babies under one year old will be treated if tested positive for HIV.

He announced it in accordance with the World Aids Day celebration, hoping that anti-retroviral drugs would save many lives.

South Africa has 59,000 HIV-positive babies born each year. It also has the biggest population of HIV-infected people at 5.5 million.

Mr. Zuma said he is prepared to undergo an HIV test himself. He added that the drugs would be made available to more children and pregnant women, and he is hoping that this would be the beginning of “an era of openness.”

Thabo Mbeki, Zuma’s predecessor, denied the connection between HIV andAIDS, earning him a lot of critics who accused him of causing more than 300,000 deaths brought about by the disease.

The United States has expressed its willingness to donate $120M to help get rid of HIV and AIDS in South Africa.

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