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(Cape Town)- Stressing the benefits of olive oil, garlic and beet root, South Africa's health minister insisted Thursday that good nutrition was just as important as anti-retroviral medicines for people infected with the AIDS virus and said her government would not be pressured into meeting U.N. treatment targets.

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, long accused by health activists of not doing enough to combat the spread of AIDS and resisting the use of anti-AIDS drugs, said far too little was known about the side-effects of the drugs.

"I don't want to be pushed or pressurized by a target of 3 million people on anti-retrovirals by 2005," said the health minister in reference to the global target set by the World Health Organization and UNAIDS.

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[ 07 May 2005: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]