Remember all that fuss about South Africa not giving Anti-retro Viral drugs to HIV sufferers, citing costs and a belief that AIDS came from another source.
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| Dr Beetroot In South Africa |
The then health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang (aka "Dr Beetroot"), suggested traditional treatments like garlic, lemons and beetroot's, instead of championing anti-retroviral drugs. "We should build up immune systems" was her defence against attacks.
The New SA health Minister Barbara Hogan said that she "would thoroughly endorse the roll-out of anti-retrovirals and any way we can accelerate that." OK, far so good, SA was now going to increase supplies of Anti-retro Viral drugs to HIV sufferers, but then comes this story from the BBC and SABC. Anti-retroviral drugs, being given to AIDS and HIV sufferers at great expense to the SA economy, are being bought or stolen and then smoked by teenagers in South Africa to 'get high'.
Almost unbelievably some of the Township recipients or healthcare dispensers of Anti-retroviral drugs would prefer to either get a hit by smoking them, or passing them on to teens for money, so that they can get a hit. "I couldn't believe it. I was shocked at first" documentary-maker Tooli Nhlapo who filmed the story for SABC. "I went back to the township and then I discovered that it was something that was known in the entire township," she said. It had now become a national problem in South Africa, she added.
There are now actually shortages of the vital drugs because so many are going missing from the system. It appears that Manto Tshabalala-Msimang new her people better than many AIDS activists .... money spent on better food and nutrition might have been a better use of the funds, rather than creating a brand new, and possibly unique, drug habit amongst large portions of the population, who just seem incapable of understanding what HIV and AIDS are.
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