The article by Belinda Beresford (R2,7-billion needed to fight Aids”, September 21) missed the point of the government’s pathetic HIV/Aids policy.
At the root of the President’s attempts to block the use of anti-retroviral drugs for the poor are his desperate attempts to privatise the public health services. Reports that contradict his view are suppressed, distorted or ignored. The recent withdrawal of the Medical Research Council’s president from presenting his long-standing report on the HIV/Aids epidemic to Parliament is a classic example of suppression through intimidation.
Since the start of his denying that HIV/Aids is a public health issue, it has been President Thabo Mbeki’s intention to stick to his economic policy. Cutting back on public health expenditure is a central part of this policy. In addition, privatisation of this sector has been insidiously encouraged by the deterioration of the quality of service in the public sector.
Any attempt to increase public health expenditure is resisted, regardless of the cost in human suffering.
The fact is that his attitude has nothing to do with misinformation obtained on the Internet. It is just that he cares nothing about the loss of life we are facing and is obsessed with hitching his wagon to the global economy and attracting investors.
Any initiative to provide the preventive therapy of drugs such as nevirapine and AZT would lead to improvement in the quality of services. This our president opposes. Costa Gazi, The ABBA Trust, Vincent