By Barnaby Phillips BBC southern Africa correspondent in Johannesburg

Aids activists in South Africa have welcomed a government announcement that appears to indicate an important shift in its unpopular policies on HIV and Aids.

More than 4.5 million South Africans are HIV-positive

The government last week said it was committed to the widespread distribution of the anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine which it had previously argued was dangerous.

More than 4.5 million South Africans are thought to be HIV-positive - the largest infected population in the world.

The Treatment Action Campaign said the new policy, which acknowledges that anti-retroviral drugs can prolong lives, has brought hope after months of despair.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions described it as a "victory of logic".

Officials within the Ministry of Health are reported to be delighted with the new policy direction.

Unbearable pressure

The ANC government's Aids policies have produced strong national and international condemnation.

President has been forced to back down

The Sunday newspapers in Johannesburg report that the pressure on the government was becoming unbearable.

They say that President Thabo Mbeki was forced to back down as criticism mounted of his unconventional views on the disease and of his belief that anti-retroviral drugs are dangerous.

The government now says it hopes to provide Nevirapine across the country by December.

However it will continue with its appeal against a court order instructing it to provide the drug to HIV-positive pregnant women.

The government says it has not dropped the appeal because of wider constitutional issues.

It does not believe that courts should determine national health policy.