South African minister defends progress against Aids

Stressing the benefits of olive oil, garlic and beetroot, South Africa’s health minister today said good nutrition was just as important as anti-retroviral medicines for people infected with the Aids virus and that her government would not be pressured into meeting UN treatment targets.

Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, long accused by health activists of not doing enough to combat the spread of Aids and resisting the use of anti-Aids drugs, said far too little was known about the side-effects of the drugs.

“I don’t want to be pushed or pressurised by a target of three million people on anti-retrovirals by 2005,” said the health minister in reference to the global target set by the World Health Organisation and UNAids.

“WHO set that target themselves. They didn’t consult us. I don’t see why South Africa today must be the scapegoat for not reaching the target,” a defiant Tshabalala-Msimang said at a news conference on progress in implementing health programmes.

In a progress report published in January, WHO said by the end of 2004, about 700,000 people in developing countries were taking anti-retrovirals. It has set a goal of three million people by the end of this year and indicated that South Africa is one of the key countries that could derail the drive.

South Africa has the highest number of infected people in the world. At the end of 2003, 5.3 million people carried the virus, according to UN figures. An estimated 600 to 1,000 people die every day.

The number of recorded deaths increased by 57% in the five years ending in 2003, largely because of the impact of Aids-related diseases.

Under huge public pressure, South Africa in November 2003 approved a plan to provide free Aids medicines to all who need them in five years.

It initially set a target to treat 53,000 people by March 2004, but those plans have now fallen by the wayside and the health ministry refuses to commit itself to any new targets.

Some 42,000 people are now being given anti-retrovirals in the public health sector, according to figures released by Tshabalala-Msimang today.

South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign, which has fought several court battles with the health minister over anti-retrovirals, estimates that 500,000 South Africans urgently need treatment.

“It is not about chasing numbers. It is about the quality of health care we provide for our people,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.

“It doesn’t work just to dish out anti-retrovirals just because they are available,” she said, saying an efficient health system, trained health workers and equipped laboratories were vital to the success of any anti-Aids drive.

Tshabalala-Msimang is often called Dr Garlic by her many critics for her habit of singing the praises of garlic, olive oil, lemon and beetroot.

“Raw garlic and a skin of the lemon – not only do they give you a beautiful face and skin but they also protect you from disease,” she said, adding that beetroot was also a vital ingredient in any diet.

In addition to highlighting the benefits of good nutrition – a fact which is globally acknowledged, most recently at a UN conference in South Africa – she stressed the risks of anti-retrovirals.

“When we were being pressurised to use anti-retrovirals, we did warn of the side effects,” she said.

“When I get reports of people on anti-retrovirals, nobody reports to me how many have fallen off the programme or died of the side effects. I don’t know what happens to those who started on anti-retrovirals.”

“All I am bombarded about is anti-retrovirals, anti-retrovirals,” she said.

“There are other things we can be assisted in doing to respond to HIV/Aids in this country.”