This is something my mate brought to my attention from the New York Times
interactive. Hope some of us read it and ponder on what if not halted, the
Aids epidemic can and will wrought on the African people.
Hamjatta Kanteh
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July 15, 2000
Focus on AIDS Epidemic, Mandela Says
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
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Issue in Depth
• Health: The AIDS Epidemic
Forum
• Join a Discussion on AIDS and the Global Response
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DURBAN, South Africa, July 14 -- Closing the 13th International Aids
Conference today, Nelson Mandela urged scientists to move beyond their
concerns about South Africa's president and to focus on combating the
epidemic that is raging across the African continent.
In a speech punctuated by repeated applause, Mr. Mandela said the world
could not afford to be distracted by the furor surrounding President Thabo
Mbeki, his successor, who has questioned whether H.I.V. causes AIDS.
Mr. Mandela did not clarify Mr. Mbeki's views on the subject, but told his
audience that Mr. Mbeki was committed to fighting the sickness in South
Africa, the country with the largest number of people infected with the AIDS
virus, 4.2 million.
"So much unnecessary attention around this conference had been directed
toward a dispute that is unintentionally distracting from the real
life-and-death issues we are confronted with as a country, a region, a
continent and a world," said Mr. Mandela, who handed over the reigns of power
to Mr. Mbeki one year ago.
"In the face of the grave threat posed by H.I.V./AIDS, we have to rise above
our differences and combine our efforts to save our people," he said.
"History will judge us harshly if we fail to do so, and right now."
The speech marked the end of the first international AIDS conference to be
held in a developing country. About 34 million people, most of them in
Africa, are infected with H.I.V. And this week, scientists debated the best
ways to battle the scourge, finding hope in studies that suggest circumcision
reduces the risk of infection and disappointment in a report that questions
the long-term benefit of a drug intended to protect newborns from the virus.
But the scientific developments announced here were almost overshadowed by
the controversy surrounding Mr. Mbeki. He addressed the conference once, in
the opening speech on Sunday, when he singled out extreme poverty, rather
than AIDS, as the biggest killer in Africa.
But in the corridors and conference halls at the convention center here, the
president dominated conversations nearly as much as the talk about future
vaccines. Last week, the scientific magazine Nature published a declaration
signed by 5,000 scientists from around the world who described the link
between H.I.V. and AIDS as "clear-cut, exhaustive and unambiguous."
And this week, in panel after panel, scientists and activists criticized Mr.
Mbeki, who stirred the debate by consulting two American researchers who
argue that poverty and malnutrition, not H.I.V., cause AIDS.
No one disputes the link between poverty and AIDS, which is well
established. And government officials here emphasize that Mr. Mbeki has never
said H.I.V. did not cause AIDS.
But researchers fear that Mr. Mbeki's heavy emphasis on poverty and his
talks with AIDS dissidents may fuel confusion among ordinary people who may
assume they can engage in risky sexual behavior because the president has
raised questions about H.I.V.
"I was disappointed, to put it bluntly," Roy Anderson, a prominent AIDS
researcher, said of Mr. Mbeki's speech. "In South Africa, it's really such an
acute problem."
The government quickly lashed back. Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang
dismissed the criticism and accused the media of distorting Mr. Mbeki's
message. She insisted that the president was committed to fighting the
disease by encouraging safe sex and by sponsoring research on drug therapies
and a possible vaccine.
"Why should he deny something he has not said?" she asked.
Today, Mr. Mandela also defended Mr. Mbeki. He called him "a man of great
intellect" who "continues to place this issue on the top of the national and
continental agenda."
Mr. Mandela acknowledged that the government, under his leadership and Mr.
Mbeki's, had fallen short in efforts to fight the disease. Scientists and
AIDS activists have accused South Africa of a lack of leadership in combating
the epidemic. In 1993, H.I.V. infected 4 percent of South Africa's adult
population. Now the figure is 20 percent.
"He will, with me, be the first to concede that much more remains to be
done," Mr. Mandela said. "I do not doubt for one moment that he will proceed
to tackle this task with the resolve and dedication he is known for."
Mr. Mandela did differ with Mr. Mbeki on some points. For instance, he
emphasized his reluctance to engage in the scientific debate, saying he
lacked adequate knowledge to contribute seriously.
And while Mr. Mbeki has questioned the safety of AIDS drugs, Mr. Mandela
stressed the urgency of using them to reduce the transmission of the virus
from mothers to newborns, saying such measures "have been proven to be
essential."
Ask questions about International News and tell other readers what you know
in Abuzz, a new knowledge network from The New York Times.
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