New South African Health Minister

In the United States, we are aware of the fact that those who are infected with HIV often begin AIDS drug treatments in an effort to maintain their health and keep their T-cell counts from plummeting. Up until this past September, the population of South African was told quite a different story about how to keep AIDS at bay. Despite international controversy and criticism, South Africa’s Health Minister for the past decade, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, felt that the AIDS epidemic should be treated naturally with vegetables and fruits like beetroot, lemons, potatoes and garlic instead of the popular antiretroviral medications successfully used in other parts of the world. In a country that unfortunately boasts the highest number of HIV infections in the world (over 5.5 million), there was an obvious and immediate need for a radical change.

Fortunately, on September 25th of this year, the new health minister, Barbara Hogan, assumed office and declared AIDS and the search for a vaccine one of her top priorities. As the life expectancy for a person in South Africa has gone down to 52 years, over 50% of hospital admissions in South Africa are due to AIDS and over 25% of the national budget is funneled into fighting the growing epidemic, Hogan acknowledged that the government had failed miserably in the previous decade. In a speech given at the international AIDS vaccine conference held in South Africa, Hogan urged researchers and scientists to step up their efforts in finding a new AIDS vaccine. Her stance was seen as a complete 180 degree turn from the previous minister’s stance on AIDS. In addition to advocating vegetables as a way to help the AIDS epidemic, Tshabalala-Msimang was notorious for not taking the AIDS epidemic seriously and doubting the effectiveness of western AIDS drug treatments.

In her speech, Hogan stated, “I’m told that it could take anything from 15 years to a century to get an effective vaccine and that it’s at least 25 years since the scientific community started looking for an HIV vaccine. I challenge you to look harder and faster.” She went on to say, “We know that HIV causes AIDS.” This statement was the much-needed end of a stance taken by South Africa’s former President Thabo Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang in which they repeatedly questioned the connection between AIDS and HIV. Hogan’s speech was met with thunderous applause from those researchers and scientists who always were at odds with the views of the former health minister.

Principal of the Univeristy of KwaZulu-Natal, Malegapuru Makgoba, rejoiced in the new health minister’s stance and stated that academics and researchers were now able to “state that HIV causes AIDS without getting threats. It is a liberating experience. You don’t know how long we suffered in bondage.”

When somebody is infected with HIV, if they begin AIDS drug treatments in a timely manner, they can live for many years. Fortunately, these drug treatments are less expensive and readily available due to the work of many private and government-sponsored programs. In fact, there were 10 times more people on AIDS drug treatments in 2007 than there were in 2003.