August 25, 2009

South African Scientists Decry Country’s HIV/AIDS Policies

On August 24, South African scientists challenged the country’s governing party to revamp the country’s spotty HIV/AIDS and public health policies, The New York Times reports. Their assessment was laid out in six papers published online by The Lancet, an international medical journal.

According to the article, the authors were prompted to publish their critique because April elections in South Africa ushered in new leadership of the governing African National Congress, which has run the country since apartheid ended 15 years ago. New president Jacob Zuma has pledged to improve the country’s approach to HIV/AIDS and public health after former president Thabo Mbeki was forcibly removed from office last year.

The current government, the authors wrote, “has the mandate and potential to address the public health emergencies facing the country. Will they do so, or will another opportunity and many more lives be lost?”

The scientists derided Mbeki’s “bizarre and unshakable belief that HIV did not cause AIDS” and slammed his health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, MD, whose poor management hindered services and programs even when good policies were adopted.

“South Africa is this great paradox of excellent policies,” said one of the main authors, Salim S. Abdool Karim, who heads the Durban-based Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa. “The problem is they can’t implement them.”

In their writing, Karim and other authors urge new efforts to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, discourage people from having multiple sex partners and promote routine male circumcision.

South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, MD, applauded the Lancet authors.

“We do take responsibility for what has happened and responsibility for how we move forward,” said Motsoaledi, who has headed the health ministry since May. “I am feeling quite at home and comfortable with this Lancet report.”

The Times reported that while South Africa is home to less than 1 percent of the world’s population, it accounts for 17 percent of reported HIV cases.

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