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South Africa Continues to Falter on HIV/AIDS |
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If anything, Ms. Tshabalala-Msimang ought to have been
ousted for her propagandizing and her ineptitude in providing the people of South Africa
with real treatments and methods of prevention.
Civil society in South Africa
and all over the world are condemning President Mbeki’s decision, insisting
that Ms. Madlala-Routledge was a rare ray of hope in South Africa’s longstanding
inability to deal with AIDS. "We believe that the deputy minister has
played a fundamental role in bringing civil society and professionals together
to support the government's National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV/AIDS, on an
unprecedented level," said the South African Clinician's Society.
Furthermore, the global Joint Civil Society Monitoring Group has described the
deputy’s release as a "major setback to the development of a unified
national response to HIV/AIDS."
Since 2003, the South African government has strived to
fulfill a new set of goals in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. This policy
has been met with relative success (though little of it can be attributed to
the current Minister, Ms. Tshabalala-Msimang) – more information on the disease
is being distributed, adults are receiving some level of ARV treatment, and methods
of prevention such as condoms are no longer taboo (though recent reports of
recalls on faulty condoms do not bode well for the current policy). Deputy
Madlala-Routledge was outspoken on all of these reforms, giving the people the
chance they deserve in fighting this epidemic. Thus, it seems that President
Mbeki has fired the wrong health minister. Unless Ms. Tshabalala-Msimang
follows up on the reforms put forth by deputy Madlala-Routledge, South Africans
will continue to suffer. An estimated 1,000 South Africans die each day as a
result of the lax HIV/AIDS policies stated by President Mbeki and minister
Tshabalala-Msimang.
At AFJN, we encourage you to advocate for better
health care and basic services in Africa,
particularly for those whose governments have left them without adequate
methods of treatment and prevention. The international community must be
willing to speak out on the issue of health, to hold President Mbeki
accountable for failures in HIV/AIDS policy, and to ensure that South Africans
receive the treatment they need. South Africa
should be willing to set an example and to take the lead in HIV/AIDS policy in Africa. Firing committed deputy health ministers with
good policies is a far cry from fulfilling that ideal.
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