Clare Nullis; 15/10/08
South Africa’s new Health Minister has broken dramatically from a decade of discredited government policies on AIDS, declaring that the disease is unquestionably caused by HIV and must be treated with conventional medicine. Barbara Hogan’s pronouncement marked the official end to 10 years of denial about the link between HIV and AIDS by former president Thabo Mbeki and his health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Activists had accused Ms Tshabalala-Msimang of spreading confusion about AIDS through her public mistrust of anti-retroviral medicines and promotion of nutritional remedies such as garlic, beetroot, lemon, olive oil and the African potato. “We know that HIV causes AIDS,” Ms Hogan told an international AIDS vaccine conference during her highest-profile public appearance since she became Health Minister two weeks ago after Mr Mbeki was dumped by his party.
Tags: HIV/Aids, South Africa