south africa's health policy

our health policy in picture format.

too good to be true

just a quick update.

if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. the possibility of the downfall of manto therefore won't happen. interestingly the anc has now claimed they were always aware of her conviction of theft. maybe they viewed that as an attribute that perfectly qualifies her for a top position.

seems she got her liver transplant legitimately (hmmm?). she has at no stage questioned allegations of alcoholism, so i think we can assume that the reason for the liver failure is self evident.

thabo mbeki, the president has publically praised the minister as a hero of the people (the hiv negative ones maybe) and stated that she is doing a great job.

meanwhile some guy writes a book about what a great leader thabo mbeki is. he then goes on to say that all people who have been advocating antiretroviral drugs as treatment for hiv owe the afforementioned 'great leader' an apology. this has to do with the fact that antiretrovirals have more side effects than garlic and beetroot (which is what thabo and manto propose as first line treatment of hiv)

so, in summary, our convicted thief health minister who denies the use of antiretrovirals as important in the fight against aids is not only still in control but fully backed by the government of the day, the anc.

manto

something for those who are following south african politics at the moment. international readers probably won't be able to believe a single iota of all of this, but in short;

our good minister of health, manto, has just been exposed in the media as being a drunk and a theif. she just received a liver transplant which at the time was attributed to autoimmune hepatitis. it seems she got the liver because she was the minister. she is more important than other south africans, it seems. she apparently was convicted in botswana for stealing and banned from that country for 10 years.

this is the person who had persistently denied the link between hiv and aids and promoted beetroot and garlic as better treatment than antiretrovirals. so you might understand my enthusiasm at her possible downfall.

possible??? yes, because our president stands behind her. actually the entire anc (the government of the day) is standing behind her at the moment. you see she is entitled. her personal interests are, after all, more important than the public. in fact the anc lashed out today against the media, actually citing her right to privacy (not being exposed as a convicted thief and drunk and jumping the que for a liver transplant) as more important than public interest (they actually said that).

difficult to explain, but other than the obvious ridiculous picture painted, i am really excited about the whole thing. it is the first time in a long time that reason may (yes may and not yet will) prevail.