After a decade of adversarial relations with Manto Tshabalala-Msimang (who advocated "garlic and beetroot" rather than antiretrovirals), leading HIV/AIDS activist group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is celebrating the appointment of Barbara Hogan as South Africa's new Minister of Health.
From TAC:
"We are confident that Hogan has the ability to improve the South African health system. She has been one of the few Members of Parliament to speak out against AIDS denialism and to offer support to the TAC, even during the worst period of AIDS denialism by former President Thabo Mbeki and former Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. 0n 14 February 2003, she received the TAC memorandum to President Mbeki for a treatment plan. She was removed as Finance Portfolio Chairperson by Mbeki in part for her stand on HIV/AIDS. She has a reputation for being hard-working, competent and principled."
"Hogan has a long record of struggle for
human rights. Twenty-seven years ago, she was detained and tortured by
the apartheid security Police. She was tried for treason as an ANC
member and spent eight years in prison.
Dr (Molefi) Sefularo
(the new Deputy Minister of Health), during his tenure as MEC for
Health of North West Province, supported ARV rollout and the
implementation of the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission
(PMTCT) in the province.
There are tremendous challenges ahead
for Hogan and Sefularo. The inequalities of the apartheid system, the
HIV epidemic and the utterly disastrous reign of Tshabalala-Msimang
have left the health system in a parlous state. Hogan's biggest
challenges will be to meet the treatment and prevention targets of the
HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan, integrate TB and HIV treatment,
develop a feasible human resources plan for health workers and undo the
considerable legacy of AIDS denialism left by her predecessor. The TAC
will do all that it can to assist her and the Department of Health to
meet these challenges.
Over two million South Africans died of
AIDS during the presidency of Thabo Mbeki. At least 300,000 deaths
could have been avoided had the president merely met the most basic
constitutional requirements. Instead Mbeki and his health minister
pursued a policy of politically supported AIDS denialism and undermined
the scientific governance of medicine. Many more people would have died
had it not been for the campaign for treatment and the independence of
our courts, which ultimately forced Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang to
implement an HIV treatment plan. We believe that the period of
politically supported AIDS denialism has ended with the appointment of
the Minister of Health."
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