It is unfortunate that there are misleading adverts on tv meant to “educate” us about HIV/AIDS by telling us that this is a “manageable desease”! This is a blatant lie! If it were manageable then why should people be careful not to contract it!? Why should people shy away from getting “rewards” for a low CD4 count as Khosi has quintessentially pointed out?

I am in agreement with Mbeki, however, that there is a sense of racism regarding the orgination of the HIV. Since it was first discovered in the USA and similtaneously in Germany, all the arguments that I have heard that it originated in Africa have either been inconsistant or illogical. This I think is where the racism begins.

I also agree with Mbeki that ARV’s should not be put forward as the first line of defence against HIV. ARV’s are toxic and cause irreparable liver and/or kidney damage. The fist line of defence should be a healthy life style; eating foods with documented healing qualities like garlic, beatrut, lemons, etc. Ofcourse, once the CD8 count is below 200, ARV’s must be administered. HIV DOES cause AIDS but poverty is a catylyst.

I also agree with Mbeki that the pharmacutical companies are not the best place to get the research information, their first obligation is to the shareholders, therfore to profit. Any of their research must be taken with a pinch of salt.

If it is true that ARVs stop infections, then certainly we need ARVs to be freely available. Nevertheless, the kind of medical treatment you want to get is a private matter for you to decide in consultation with your doctor (or your sangoma..). It has nothing to do with Thabo Mbeki or Dr Beetroot.

I do agree that people need to be more socially responsible. However, if you look at America’s abstinence only sex eduction system and its dismal failures, that’s not a realistic programme to follow. Certainly, teach abstinence in conjunction with all the rest and try to alter behaviour with level-headed straight talk, but by the same token we need to cater for the very real possibility that most people are not going to be socially responsible.

When I say, half the population, I mean if our prevalence rate was as high as Botswana.

I chose South Africa’s measured response to the problem. I was watching CNN last night and I was shocked at the low base of thought that our new health minister is applying to the problem.

“To say that shows lack of insight on your behalf. It is to suggest cutting yourself is fine because you have band-aid in the closet. That’s highly flawed reasoning. What you are suggesting is analogous to saying band-aids do not heal wounds, therefore we shouldn’t use them for people who have a cut.”

Well…. actually you are wrong and you are the one lacking insight. Let me explain it to you in lay man terms that, hopefully, you will understand. Young girls in our country, today, are getting pregnant because the welfare system ‘rewards’ them with child grants. Grants are not meant as a reward but common people do not see it that way. Similarly, ARV’s might not be meant as a cure, but people will apply them as such. There is no two ways about it. Add to that, the AIDS disability grant that ‘rewards’ low CD counts and you have a powder keg itching to explode. You know, I have a friend, an educated person, who at times practices unsafe sex then goes to another friend, who is a doctor, to get ARV’s to stop an infection. That is how bad the situation is on the ground.

The solution to HIV is not ARV’s. The solution is stopping the infections. Because science continues to fail us here, the key is altering behavior. I do not understand how behavior can be altered and infections stopped if people are given reasons to behave irresponsible.

HIV/AIDS is a social problem. It needs social responses in order for it to be resolved. Telling people of magic pills, will only exacerbate the problem. Your Botswana is a prime example of this. The drunken driving on our roads is also an example.

You say:-
“How is it claimed that Botswana managed to contain their HIV epidemic while we didn’t?”

The claim here is that people are living longer with HIV. That claim does not look at how sick they are while they are living longer. Also remember, as this is a social problem, the longer they live the bigger the chance of that infection being passed to the next person. Cold but true.

People die without ARV’s, on ARV’s and despite ARV’s. I have personal experience of this.

In the first case, the ARVs would have to be taken in the long term. It still does not amount to half the population, in neither our case nor in the case of Botswana. In the last case, the ARVs are not taken in the long term. The treatments differ, but it is my understanding that you need a 28 day regime to reduce the risk of getting the HI virus. That’s it. 28 days of nausea and you have your life ahead of you.

Besides, if you had to choose between Botswana and Zimbabwe, which one would it be? (The life expectancy in Zim is 44,28; 2008 estimate, from my same link).

Re: life expectancy in Botswana: I disregarded the decimals. I looked roughly at the life expectancies and rounded them roughly in my head. I apologise for rounding them wrong, although the key word is roughly. It was not an attempt to distort the figures, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to include the links..

Fact remains Botswana has a higher life expectancy than South Africa. We are the largest economy in Africa, yet Botswana can afford first world health care while we can’t? Why not? Why should there life expectancy be on average 1,27 higher than ours? How is it claimed that Botswana managed to contain their HIV epidemic while we didn’t? If your claims are true, namely that Botswana has a 1 in ~6 HIV infection rate, and we have a 1 in 10 infection rate, how is it that their life expectancy is more than ours? Surely, a sixth of the population is more than a tenth of the population?

I’m not suggesting that it is fine to contract HIV. To say that shows lack of insight on your behalf. It is to suggest cutting yourself is fine because you have band-aid in the closet. That’s highly flawed reasoning. What you are suggesting is analogous to saying band-aids do not heal wounds, therefore we shouldn’t use them for people who have a cut.

Again, ARVs are not meant to cure Aids. They are meant to alleviate the suffering of those who are suffering from Aids (for which they do work) and they are meant to prevent mother-to-child transfers (for which they definitely work). They also work when someone is exposed to contaminated blood to prevent HIV and Aids.

Again, the ARVs would not have cost South Africa a cent. We were offered international aid. If the pharmaceutical companies were to benefit form this, they were not going to benefit from our pockets in any event.

You quote a report, then you say:-
“The life expectancy in Botswana is about 5 years more than that of South Africa.”

I went to the report that you quoted and this is what is says:-

Botswana total population: 50.16 years
male: 51.28 years
female: 49.02 years (2008 est.)

South Africa total population: 48.89 years
male: 49.63 years
female: 48.15 years (2008 est.)

50.16 – 48.89 = 1.27

Where did you get the 5 years from? Pierre de Vos’s exaggeration handbook maybe?

Let me give you another piece of information on your beloved Botswana. Roughly 1 in 5.5 of the whole population of Botswana are HIV positive. South Africa is sitting at roughly 1 in 10.

You see, if you tell a person that there is a remedy for irresponsible behavior, you are in fact giving a green light to that behavior. You are in fact saying that it is fine to contract HIV because government will give you pills to ‘live longer’. Over the period of the ARV program, new infections have gone on unabated in Botswana.

So, I say to you, fine Botswana with, as you say, the help of the West has managed to ensure that almost half of their population will be drugged up with ARV’s very soon. Hardly something to be proud of, let alone emulate. Imagine if something similar happened in South Africa. If one is to accommodate the ARV longer life theory, and with half of our population HIV positive, 24 million of us would be on ARV’s. That is exactly what pharmaceutical should hope for and are working towards.

As Mugabe would say:- Botswana, Botswana, Botswana OOOHhhhhhh.