4 November 2009
editorial
Johannesburg — THE timing and site of President Jacob Zuma 's landmark speech on HIV/AIDS last week were just too neat to be coincidental.
It was standing on the same spot in the debating chamber of the National Council of Provinces, 10 years ago almost to the day, that former president Thabo Mbeki first articulated his view that HIV did not cause AIDS.
Zuma's intention was presumably to make a decisive break with the disastrous government policies of the past, although in practice that process started long before he came to power. But the symbolism was also a disturbing reminder that SA's battle to combat the spread of HIV has been set back by a decade due to denialism and the misdirection of scarce health resources. It is impossible to claw back that lost decade, just as the innumerable South Africans who have died unnecessarily will never be brought back to life.
Zuma's message was essentially the speech AIDS activists fervently wished Mbeki had made all those years ago. He stated unequivocally that AIDS remains a huge threat to the nation, called for mass mobilisation against the epidemic, and emphasised that it is only through the dissemination of knowledge - the orthodox, scientific type - that SA will reduce the HIV infection rate and break the stigma that is still attached to the pandemic.
The figures he quoted were not new, but remain chilling nonetheless: 60% of deaths in the country are of people below the age of 50, and last year's mortality figures were 32% higher than in 2007. SA is losing the battle currently , but as tardy as the government may have been in joining the combat, the war can still be won.
There are already signs that the epidemic has stabilised, and infection rates will surely soon start dropping if existing policy is applied properly. And therein lies the rub - the best of intentions are worthless if the people who are supposed to implement them are not on the same page. In some of our provinces that is the sad reality.
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