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"Sack Dr Beetroot, say AIDs experts"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(07/09/06)
JOHANNESBURG: More than 80 international scientists and academics condemned
South Africa's AIDS policies as ineffective and immoral, and called for the
firing of the country's health minister in a letter to President Thabo Mbeki
released yesterday.
The scientists called Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang an embarrassment to South
Africa and said her activities undermined science. Signatories included
American Nobel Laureate David Baltimore and Dr Robert Gallo, a co-discoverer
of the HIV virus that causes AIDS and developer of the first HIV blood test.
They called “for the immediate removal of Dr Tshabalala-Msimang as Minister
of Health and for an end to the disastrous, pseudoscientific policies that
have characterised the South African government's response to HIV/AIDS.”
With their letter, the scientists joined mounting criticism from AIDS
activists and South African opposition parties of Health Minister Dr
Tshabalala-Msimang, often called “Dr Beetroot” because of her advocacy of
the use of beetroot, garlic, lemon and the African potato in the fight
against AIDS. Her boss, Mbeki, has also been accused of ignorance and poor
judgment in addressing an epidemic that threatens to cripple Africa's
economic and diplomatic powerhouse.
The government estimates more than 5.5 million South Africans are
HIV-positive, a number second only to India and one that amounts to about an
eighth of estimated cases worldwide. On average, more than 900 people die of
the disease a day in South Africa.
There was no immediate response from the president's office or the health
ministry to the call to fire the minister. But the Cabinet recently defended
her, saying false information about the country's treatment programme was
being spread around the world. Dr Tshabalala-Msimang has herself dismissed
and ridiculed calls for her resignation.
“My resignation? I haven't thought of it and I am not just about to think
about it,” she said at a recent news conference.
The government, which did not provide AIDS drugs until a suit by AIDS
activists forced it to in 2002, said it has stepped up its programmes which
it claims recently became the largest in the world. It estimates it treats
more than 140,000 people with anti-retroviral drugs in its programmes.
But scientists estimated that 500,000 South Africans without access to the
drugs now need them to survive.
Mbeki has previously expressed doubts about the connection between HIV and
AIDS, and along with his health minister has questioned the effectiveness of
anti-retroviral drugs.
“To deny that HIV causes AIDS is farcical in the face of the scientific
evidence; to promote ineffective, immoral policies on HIV/AIDS endangers
lives; to have as a health minister a person who now has no international
respect is an embarrassment to the South African government,” the scientists
said.
The group said it was deeply concerned by the proliferation of unproven
remedies marketed in South Africa.
They noted that at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto last
month, the South African government exhibition “featured garlic, lemons and
African potatoes, with the implication that these dietary elements are
alternative treatments for HIV infection.”
The scientists said they endorsed the comments of Stephen Lewis, the UN
Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, who delivered a scathing attack on the
South African government during an address at the AIDS conference.
According to media reports, 137 South African delegates to the Toronto
conference have sought refugee status in Canada, claiming South Africa's
AIDS policies put their lives at risk. — AP
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