The Battle for HIV Truth in South Africa
Fourth year medical student from the University of Edinburgh, Rachel Phillips reports on her experiences working for TAC in South Africa.
Having spent the last four months working for South Africa’s biggest HIV non-governmental organisation, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), I would like to share my glimpse of AIDS denialism, the havoc it causes and the energy involved in opposing it.
“Does HIV cause AIDS? Can a virus cause a syndrome? How? It can’t, because a syndrome is a group of diseases resulting from acquired immune deficiency.” (1)
Bizarre and harmful statements made by South Africa’s president Thabo Mbeki are, by now, notorious. So too is Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who only initiated South Africa’s antiretroviral (ARV) rollout in 2003 after TAC took her to the Constitutional court. She continues to undermine ARVs whilst supporting the use of garlic, beetroot and pseudo scientific ‘cures’ for HIV.
Disastrous leadership has led to fatal delays in the fight against HIV, which infects an estimated 5.6 million South Africans. (2) This has drawn sharp criticism from UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis who famously slammed South Africa at the Toronto International AIDS conference for being ‘the only country in Africa whose government continues to propound theories more worthy of a lunatic fringe than of a concerned and compassionate state”.(3) Thus it was into a vacuum of political action that TAC emerged in 1998. Led by activist Zackie Achmat - the first person in the world to go on a drug strike - TAC campaigns for the rights of people living with HIV, especially the right to access ARVs. (4) During my placement with TAC they were helping to publicise South Africa’s first national strategic plan for HIV, which finally came out - in 2007!
Where has Mbeki’s denialism come from? That’s the big question of course, and several theories exist. One thing is for certain; the influence of AIDS dissidents on the president. Mbeki’s stance has lent credence to this otherwise eccentric mix of people, who operate internationally to refute either the very existence of HIV or its link to AIDS.(5) Moreover, he has created widespread confusion in South Africa , providing fertile ground for those who profit from ignorance and desperation.
Enter characters like Matthias Rath, a German entrepreneur who has been marketing his vitamin tablets as an AIDS cure in townships. According to Rath, organisations like TAC, cynically push ‘toxic’ ARVs on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry. Think I’m exaggerating? Check out Rath’s website or even worse his book ‘END AIDS: Break the chains of pharmaceutical colonialism’. Actually, don’t bother. It’s a nauseating 280-paged rant, which blames the pharmaceutical industry for World War Two and apartheid whilst comparing TAC members to Nazi storm troopers. His reasoning for this seems, sensibly, to be that both have a sort of uniform. The storm troopers brown khaki, TAC their world famous ‘HIV Positive’ T shirts inspired, ironically, by the Danish King who wore the yellow star of David during WW2 in solidarity with Jews. Rath’s flawed logic follows that because support for ARVs comes from countries that also export them, there is a conspiracy to bind Africa to western drugs. It is important to clarify at this point that TAC has an explicit and strict policy that refuses any funding from the pharmaceutical industry and has even been involved in legal action against pharmaceutical companies. You might think that Rath’s claims are so ridiculous that they are not taken seriously but sadly the opposite is true. Hence TAC’s extensive legal battle against him, which is currently drawing to a close, after over 2 years. Rath is just one of many charlatans pedalling false AIDS cures.
Another example is Tina van der Maas. In her propaganda video she heals a Zulu lady from the clutches of death by administrating natural remedies, all to the soundtrack of African drums. So glad this Dutch woman is getting back to her African roots. Kim Cools, is another denialist who operates a ‘clinic’ in Kwa Zulu Natal. He came to my attention when he started systematically texting TAC members (he must have got their phone numbers off the internet) inviting them to leave TAC and join his own ‘Truth Action Campaign’.
Not all the AIDS ‘cure’ charlatans are from abroad. Mr Zeblon Gwala an ex -lorry driver is currently doing great business selling ‘Ubhejane’ - a brown liquid made according to a recipe revealed by his late grandfather in a dream and sold in plastic litre bottles. Gwala may have the best of intentions but he is not only cheating people out of serious money, his advice to stop ARVs is fatal. Then there is Freddie Isaacs, a self styled prophet who markets a beautifully named product ‘Comforters Healing Gift’, and the list goes on…
Learning about these people and helping to lodge complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority and Medicines Control Council with TAC colleagues– all extremely well informed themselves- it was easy to forget the public confusion that surrounded us. But I never had to go far - a simple morning jog would easily turn into a discussion with Xhosa guards over whether HIV existed and whether ARVs worked or not. Opening a newspaper would reveal adverts for herbs that could increase my CD4 count. I heard that in some parts of town minibuses smell of the garlic chewed by those misled by their Health Minister. Apparently no section of society is immune to the confusion. After four months on the topic I spent my last night in South Africa listening in astonishment to a white middle class university student who had just watched a popular You-tube video that convinced him that the ‘HIV myth’ is indeed a conspiracy.
The battle for truth on HIV in South Africa is raging. Which is why its great to know that there are so many committed to answering AIDS denialists and providing the public with accurate information. This includes those who promote a holistic approach to treating HIV and emphasise the importance of good nutrition in addition to ARVs. TAC is currently involved in several complaints against pseudo-cures, trains members in treatment literacy, produces masses of educational leaflets and a regular magazine ‘Equal Treatment’ which disseminates up to date information in an accessible format for the public. It was my privilege to witness this battlefront first hand and to meet some of those working hard for the side of truth.
References
1. Quote taken from an article on the AEGiS (AIDS Education Global Information System) website. Harvey M. How can a virus cause a syndrome? Asks Mbeki. I-clinic – September 21, 2000. 2. Statistics from Actuarial Society of South Africa – extrapolated from the ASSA 2003 model. 3. Lewis S. Race Against Time. UN Official Assails S.A. on its response to AIDS. New York Times Aug 19 2006
4. Please see the Treatment Action Campaign website
5. Nattrass N. Mortal Combat:AIDS Denialism and the struggle for Antiretrovirals in South Africa. University of Kwa Zulu Natal Press 2007
For more information on AIDS denialism in South Africa please go to the excellent AIDSTruth website: AIDS truth 2007. Answering AIDS denialists and AIDS lies.
Rachel Phillips
4th year medical student
University of Edinburgh
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