The shackles have been removed and our sub-Saharan brethren now
demonstrate their contribution to the advancement of civilization.
______________

S.Africa's garlic, lemon AIDS advice draws new fire By Andrew Quinn

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's drive to promote garlic, lemon
and beetroot as  AIDS treatments has fanned anger at home as activists
accuse the government of misleading public opinion at a global
conference on the epidemic.

South Africa's exhibit at the Toronto AIDS conference -- featuring
displays of garlic and other natural foods along with anti-retroviral
(ARV) drugs -- was stormed by supporters of the Treatment Action
Campaign (TAC), South Africa's most vocal AIDS activist group, local
news reports said on Thursday.

"We feel that the display of garlic and lemon is ... an insult to the
South African AIDS crisis," TAC General Secretary Sipho Mthathi told
SABC radio from Toronto.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has made nutrition and
natural remedies a cornerstone of her AIDS policy, infuriating the TAC
and other activist groups who say ARVs are the only way South Africa
can hope to treat the country's estimated five million
HIV-positive people.

Health Ministry spokesman Sibani Mngadi said the Toronto protesters
had attempted to seize the garlic and other foodstuffs from the
display, damaging part of the exhibit.

"The minister of health represents government policy," Mngadi told the
SABC, accusing the TAC of being "preoccupied" with ARV drugs.

"There are anti-retrovirals displayed there, which is one option that
is available to people at a particular level of the progression of HIV
and AIDS ... for those people with CD4 counts higher than 200, we are
saying that they need to deal with maintaining their health."

Experts generally say that patients should start treatment when their
CD4 cell count, a measure of immune system response, drops below 350.

Both President Thabo Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang have in the past
expressed doubts about the efficacy of ARV drugs, and campaigners such
as the TAC say the government drug program launched in 2003 remains
insufficient.

South African officials say their drug program now reaches more than
120,000 people and is among the biggest in the world.

The TAC's Mthati said South Africa's official prescription of garlic,
beetroot and olive oil as a frontline defense against HIV/AIDS was
costing lives.

"The health minister has in the country and outside consistently
overemphasized her cocktails over what is scientifically tested and
well-known medicine," Mthati said.

"We need a health minister who is going to promote scientifically
based medicines ... and none of these untested alternatives she is
supporting actually have any credence."

The health minister has maintained that good nutrition helps people
with AIDS and that garlic can boost the immune system.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060817/hl_nm/aids_safrica_dc