South Africa's HIV Treatment Programme - a Phoenix Rising From the Ashes?

13 December 2017

It's easy to forget where we've come from sometimes. The early 2000s were dark times for South Africa. Adult death rates were rising rapidly, and mathematical models projected that AIDS deaths would rise to 800,000 per year in 2010. Demographers were estimating that by 2015, a third of all children would be orphans.

At the same time, President Thabo Mbeki equivocated over whether HIV causes AIDS, and his defenders quibbled over whether the data showed evidence of a problem. The health minister and president of the Medical Research Council cast doubt over the effectiveness of antiretroviral treatment (ART), favouring instead nutritional interventions of dubious merit. The Mbeki government's contempt for scientific evidence and denial of the unfolding disaster was considered by many to be criminal.

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