SOUTH AFRICAN COURT ORDERS USE OF AIDS DRUG.(MAIN)

Byline: DINA KRAFT Associated Press

PRETORIA, South Africa -- AIDS activists and pediatricians won a landmark lawsuit against the government Friday, forcing it to provide a key drug to expectant mothers infected with HIV.

Activists who packed the court gallery cheered and hugged each other as Judge Chris Botha read a brief judgment stating that the government had to make the drug nevirapine available to the women giving birth in public hospitals.

Botha also ordered the government to institute a nationwide program to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The government was given until March 31 to report back …