THE storm gathering over southern Africa’s AIDS catastrophe grew fiercer as
the World AIDS conference opened in Durban this week.
South African President Thabo Mbeki again downplayed the significance of HIV
as the killer of millions of black Africans. Poverty, he said, was more a more
important factor. His remarks were a direct snub to the 5000 leading medical
scientists who signed last week’s declaration stating that HIV is the sole and
unambiguous cause of AIDS.
Privately, WHO officials say Mbeki’s stance is born of the fear that orthodox
AIDS science will lead to a relentless campaign for drug therapies…
