I am in South Africa. I saw a TV programme yesterday on satellite TV
about the suffering and deprivation of families hit by death and illness
resulting from the AIDS pandemic. They don't get help because our
president's position is that "a virus cannot cause a syndrome, which is a
collection of diseases". Yea right, this is really helpful to the
thousands sad, tragic and lonely deaths in backrooms and in some
disgusting shantytown. When these people get sick it spells disaster for
their families. Apart from the other deprivations there is seldom
enough food on the table for the sick or the children. Like in the
England of old where families used to lock their insane offspring in the
attic we have a situation where the AIDS sufferers are kept in a
backroom away from the world because of the stigma and shame attached to
this infection. Now even if President Mbeki can not bring himself to
accept that AIDS is a reality why does he not recognise that such
families face hunger and destitution from whatever cause and provide
social support?
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