South Africa’s leader announces new AIDS policies

PRETORIA, South Africa — South Africa will treat all HIV-positive babies and expand testing, the president announced today on World AIDS Day in a dramatic and eagerly awaited shift in a country that has more people living with HIV than any other.

President Jacob Zuma’s speech was viewed as a definitive turning point for a nation with a legacy of leaders who rejected treatment based on medical science and delayed lifesaving measures.

Zuma compared the fight against AIDS to the decades-long struggle against the apartheid government, which ended in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela in the country’s first multi-racial elections.

“At another moment in our history, in another context, the liberation movement observed that the time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight,” Zuma said. “That time has now come in our struggle to overcome AIDS. Let us declare now, as we declared then, that we shall not submit.”

Zuma, credited with already making important policy changes on AIDS, was greeted with a standing ovation when he entered a Pretoria exhibition hall filled with several thousand people, many of them AIDS activists, medical professionals, or both.

UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe, who took the podium shortly before Zuma, told the president: “What you do from this day forward will write, or rewrite, the story of AIDS across Africa.”

Today, in response to a plea from Zuma, the United States announced it was giving South Africa $120 million over the next two years for AIDS treatment drugs.

In his speech, broadcast across South Africa on state radio and television, Zuma said new policy changes would take effect in April.

“It means that people will live longer and more fulfilling lives,” he said.

The new steps included treatment for all HIV-positive children under 1 year old, and earlier treatment for patients infected with both the virus that causes AIDS and tuberculosis and for women who are pregnant and HIV-positive.

He said all health institutions, not just specialist centers, would provide counseling, testing and treatment.

Zuma also called on South Africans to be tested for HIV. But, contrary to speculation in recent days, he did not take an AIDS test today.

“I have taken HIV tests before and I know my status,” he said. “I will do another test soon as part of this new campaign. I urge you to start planning for your own tests.”

After listening to his president, advertising consultant Tedson Tibani said the steps Zuma outlined could significantly reduce infections within a few years. Tibani said putting more people on drugs would cost money, but said he was hopeful others would follow the U.S. in donating money.

“There’s a kind of hope the president has instilled,” Tibani said. “I’m very happy with that. We’ve never had that before.”

Setjhaba Ranthako brought his 4-year-old daughter Tshegofatso to hear Zuma’s speech, saying education should start early.

“I’ve see in President Zuma a person who’s willing to listen, and say, ‘Here I am, come with your views, and let’s turn your views into an effective campaign to combat the spread’” of AIDS, said Ranthako, who works with a group that raises awareness about AIDS among men.

In some ways, Zuma is an unlikely AIDS hero. In 2006, while being tried on charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend, he was ridiculed for testifying that he took a shower after sex to lower the risk of AIDS. He was acquitted of rape.

Zuma, a one-time chairman of the country’s national AIDS council, may never live down the shower comment. But he has won praise for appointing Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi as his health minister. AIDS activists say Motsoaledi trusts science and is willing to learn from past mistakes.

South Africa, a nation of about 50 million, has an estimated 5.7 million people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS — more than any other country in the world.

The health minister under Zuma’s predecessor distrusted drugs developed to keep AIDS patients alive, instead promoting garlic treatments. Zuma’s government has set a target of getting 80 percent of those who need AIDS drugs on them by 2011.

A Harvard study of the years under President Thabo Mbeki, who questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, concluded that more than 300,000 premature deaths in South Africa could have been prevented had officials here acted sooner to provide drug treatments to AIDS patients and to prevent pregnant women with HIV from passing the virus to their children.

After Zuma won a power struggle within the governing African National Congress, the party forced Mbeki to step down late last year after almost a decade as president. Zuma took over after elections in April.

The crowd that had greeted Zuma like a rock star before his speech rose to their feet when Zuma finished today. Then he danced along with a choir that sang: “Zuma, you are blessed.”

Talk to us

More in Local News

This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. In a race against the clock on the high seas, an expanding international armada of ships and airplanes searched Tuesday, June 20, 2023, for the submersible that vanished in the North Atlantic while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP)
A new movie based on OceanGate’s Titan submersible tragedy is in the works: ‘Salvaged’

MindRiot announced the film, a fictional project titled “Salvaged,” on Friday.

Craig Hess (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Sultan’s new police chief has 22 years in law enforcement

Craig Hess was sworn in Sep. 14. The Long Island-born cop was a first-responder on 9/11. He also served as Gold Bar police chief.

Cars move across Edgewater Bridge toward Everett on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, in Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Edgewater Bridge redo linking Everett, Mukilteo delayed until mid-2024

The project, now with an estimated cost of $27 million, will detour West Mukilteo Boulevard foot and car traffic for a year.

Lynn Deeken, the Dean of Arts, Learning Resources & Pathways at EvCC, addresses a large gathering during the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new Cascade Learning Center on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, at Everett Community College in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
New EvCC learning resource center opens to students, public

Planners of the Everett Community College building hope it will encourage students to use on-campus tutoring resources.

Everett Police Chief Dan Templeman announces his retirement after 31 years of service at the Everett City Council meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett police chief to retire at the end of October

Chief Dan Templeman announced his retirement at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. He has been chief for nine years.

Boeing employees watch the KC-46 Pegasus delivery event  from the air stairs at Boeing on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 in Everett, Wa. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Boeing’s iconic Everett factory tour to resume in October

After a three-year hiatus, tours of the Boeing Company’s enormous jet assembly plant are back at Paine Field.

A memorial for a 15-year-old shot and killed last week is set up at a bus stop along Harrison Road on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Teen boy identified in fatal shooting at Everett bus stop

Bryan Tamayo-Franco, 15, was shot at a Hardeson Road bus stop earlier this month. Police arrested two suspects.

Lynnwood
Woman killed in crash on Highway 99 in Lynnwood

Police closed off Highway 99 between 188th Street SW and 196th Street SW while they investigated.

Mike Bredstrand, who is trying to get back his job with Lake Stevens Public Works, stands in front of the department’s building on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, in Lake Stevens, Washington. Bredstrand believes his firing in July was an unwarranted act of revenge by the city. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Lake Stevens worker was fired after getting court order against boss

The city has reportedly spent nearly $60,000 on attorney and arbitration fees related to Mike Bredstrand, who wants his job back.

Most Read