Mandela Shows Support for Government in AIDS Drug Research

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 02, 2002

Mandela Shows Support for Government in AIDS Drug Research

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South Africans should understand their government for the research it is conducting intothe safety of anti-retroviral use in Africa, former president Nelson Mandela said on Sunday in Bloemfontein, the judiciary capital of the country.

Speaking at a World AIDS Day event for traditional leaders organized by his foundation, Mandela was quoted by South African Press Association as saying, "they (the government) are right in conducting the research."

Mandela also reiterated his stance that government should make anti-retroviral drugs available in the public sector.

He said government should supply the drugs to sufferers if theyasked for them, but with a warning that research into its safety was still being conducted. Patients should be told that use of thedrugs would be at their own responsibility.

This should be done to deal with "the perception that government does not care about thousands of babies who are dying."

Mandela said he supported the government "without reservation" for conducting the research, as conditions in Africa such as poverty and illiteracy were far different from those in Europe.

Mandela also said people should follow the example of the late Princess Diana of Britain by "smashing the superstition" that one would be infected if one was in contact with someone who was HIV positive.

"Many who suffer from HIV and AIDS are not killed by the virus,but by stigma. It does not matter whether they are South African or from outside, you have to sympathize with them. It is your dutyto be human. Do not stigmatize people with AIDS. Show them care, support and, above all, love," Mandela said.

He told about a young woman whose education he sponsored, and who was diagnosed as HIV positive.

"I was devastated. When I invited her to my house, she could not walk. She sat next to me, and I could not hear her talk. For lunch she took one spoon. I told her to go to hospital. They discharged her within three days, saying there was nothing more they could do for her. I was completely devastated."

"Then I left for an AIDS conference in Barcelona. After I came back, I called her. She answered in a very strong voice. I could not believe that it was she. I again invited her for lunch. This time she was walking, although still very weak. She said she had such an appetite, she could eat a whole horse."

"I raised little more than 1 million rand (about 100,000 US dollars) for her, and we gave her 2,000 rand (about 200 dollars) per month to pay her medical fees and so that she could eat well."

The young woman eventually went back to school.

Mandela said this demonstrated what happened if you did not stigmatize people who were HIV positive, but rather helped them.

He said everyone had to be "in the field" in the war against the pandemic, as it was a war against humanity. It has killed morepeople than all wars and natural disasters in the past.

Mandela announced that he had secured a sponsorship from a large company, who had agreed to provide traditional leaders with resources to fight the disease.

There are five million South Africans that are HIV-positive, ina country with a population of 46 million. And South Africa was the hardest hit country by this disease.

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