According to a new report by the Institute of Security Studies and Transparency International, South Africa’s HIV/AIDS fight has been a “potentially lethal cocktail of mismanagement” (newsvote.bbc.co.uk, 11/28).
While South Africa has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world (an estimated 30 percent of the population are currently living with the virus), authors of the report—which is entitled ”A Lethal Cocktail”—claim that very little is being done to curb the spread of the disease or to provide care for those living with it.
The report blames the region’s poor handling of the epidemic primarily on President Thabo Mbeki, who has openly questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, in addition to government corruption and an often abusive health care system.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
