The speaker has been much hyped and I am not disappointed. Francois Venter, a well known and highly political HIV physician from Johannesburg is speaking on the state of the rollout of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) across South Africa.
If you are serious about impacting HIV in South Africa it is impossible not to be political. A few months ago he was in the news for calling for compulsory HIV testing (in a country where in some areas prevalence can exceed 40%, less than 2% have been tested). Today he speaks of the problems and the dismal state of programmes that are supposed to be preventing the babies of HIV positive mothers getting infected. “If these programmes worked as they should, and as they have proven to work in other parts of Africa, we would not need to significantly expand our programmes of treatment for HIV infected children beyond what they are now.” The issue is not money, he declares. Much more money is being spent in South Africa than elsewhere on the continent. The problem is management and the terrible lack of competent personnel.
“However, addressing all these problems is like rearranging the furniture when there is, in fact, an elephant in the room.” Then, with a dramatic pause, he puts up his final slide: a picture of the controversial national health minister. A lady infamous for pushing beetroot over anti-retroviral drugs and who has featured prominently in the South Africa news of late. She was off sick for a while and great secrecy surrounded the reasons. One of the braver newspapers recently claimed she received a liver transplant for alcohol-induced liver disease – and yet continues drinking. Further allegations over how she runs her dysfunctional department have been overshadowing the major health problems that plague the country. In a further twist to the tail her widely respected deputy, who in the course of her boss’s sick leave oversaw the development of the country’s new and widely praised plan to confront TB and HIV, has been ousted following an “unauthorised trip” to Spain to present at an HIV conference.
Someone sticks up a hand to ask a question about the government’s TB/HIV plan. Venter grins. “I like to say the government is a Faith Based Organisation.” He goes on to point out that setting new targets but no new ways to meet them will not increase the number of babies in the HIV transmission prevention programme. Continuing to do just what we are doing now will achieve nothing new. “But the government seems to have faith that it will!”
The meeting ends and I slip into the next room on the hunt for another session. There is a 20 foot bleeding penis on the screen. Someone is describing how to do a circumcision. Lovely.
For information on South Africa's new AIDS plan see this article.
Go here for details about Venter's call for compulsory HIV testing.
For further info on the controversy surrounding the health minister and her deputy see the Sunday Times of South Africa.
If you are serious about impacting HIV in South Africa it is impossible not to be political. A few months ago he was in the news for calling for compulsory HIV testing (in a country where in some areas prevalence can exceed 40%, less than 2% have been tested). Today he speaks of the problems and the dismal state of programmes that are supposed to be preventing the babies of HIV positive mothers getting infected. “If these programmes worked as they should, and as they have proven to work in other parts of Africa, we would not need to significantly expand our programmes of treatment for HIV infected children beyond what they are now.” The issue is not money, he declares. Much more money is being spent in South Africa than elsewhere on the continent. The problem is management and the terrible lack of competent personnel.
“However, addressing all these problems is like rearranging the furniture when there is, in fact, an elephant in the room.” Then, with a dramatic pause, he puts up his final slide: a picture of the controversial national health minister. A lady infamous for pushing beetroot over anti-retroviral drugs and who has featured prominently in the South Africa news of late. She was off sick for a while and great secrecy surrounded the reasons. One of the braver newspapers recently claimed she received a liver transplant for alcohol-induced liver disease – and yet continues drinking. Further allegations over how she runs her dysfunctional department have been overshadowing the major health problems that plague the country. In a further twist to the tail her widely respected deputy, who in the course of her boss’s sick leave oversaw the development of the country’s new and widely praised plan to confront TB and HIV, has been ousted following an “unauthorised trip” to Spain to present at an HIV conference.
Someone sticks up a hand to ask a question about the government’s TB/HIV plan. Venter grins. “I like to say the government is a Faith Based Organisation.” He goes on to point out that setting new targets but no new ways to meet them will not increase the number of babies in the HIV transmission prevention programme. Continuing to do just what we are doing now will achieve nothing new. “But the government seems to have faith that it will!”
The meeting ends and I slip into the next room on the hunt for another session. There is a 20 foot bleeding penis on the screen. Someone is describing how to do a circumcision. Lovely.
For information on South Africa's new AIDS plan see this article.
Go here for details about Venter's call for compulsory HIV testing.
For further info on the controversy surrounding the health minister and her deputy see the Sunday Times of South Africa.
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