People should stop blaming and criticising government for the research it is conducting into the safety of antiretrovirals’ use in Africa, former president Nelson Mandela said on Sunday in Bloemfontein.
”They (the government) are right in conducting the research,” Mandela said, speaking at a World Aids Day event for traditional leaders organised by his foundation.
Mandela also reiterated his stance that government should make antiretroviral drugs available in the public sector.
He said government should supply the drugs to sufferers if they asked for it, but with a warning that research into its safety was still being conducted. Patients should be told that use of the
drugs would be at their own responsibility.
This should be done to deal with ”the perception that government does not care about thousands of babies who are dying”.
Mandela said he supported the government ”without reservation” for conducting the research, as conditions in Africa such as poverty and illiteracy were far different from those in Europe.
Mandela also said people should follow the example of the late Princess Diana of Britain by ”smashing the superstition” that one would be infected if one was in contact with someone who was HIV positive.
”Many who suffer from HIV and Aids are not killed by the virus, but by stigma. It does not matter whether they are South African or from outside, you have to sympathise with them. It is your duty to be human. Do not stigmatise people with Aids. Show them care,
support and, above all, love,” Mandela said.
He told about a young woman whose education he sponsored, and who was diagnosed as HIV positive.
”I was devastated. When I invited her to my house, she could not walk. She sat next to me, and I could not hear her talk. For lunch she took one spoon. I told her to go to hospital. They discharged her within three days, saying there was nothing more they could do for her. I was completely devastated.
”Then I left for an Aids conference in Barcelona. After I came back, I called her. She answered in a very strong voice. I could not believe that it was she. I again invited her for lunch. This time she was walking, although still very weak. She said she had
such an appetite, she could eat a whole horse.
”I raised little more than R1-million for her, and we gave her R2 000 per month to pay her medical fees and so that she could eat well.”
The young woman eventually went back to school.
Mandela said this demonstrated what happened if you did not stigmatise people who were HIV positive, but rather helped them. He said everyone had to be ”in the field” in the war against the pandemic, as it was a war against humanity. It has killed more people than all wars and natural disasters in the past.
Mandela announced that he had secured a sponsorship from a large company, who had agreed to provide traditional leaders with resources to fight the disease.
Traditional leaders at the event signed a pledge, heeding Mandela’s call to good leadership in the fight against HIV and Aids. – Sapa