Posted on 06/18/2004 1:37:24 PM PDT by wagglebee
Pretoria/Johannesburg, June 17. (Guardian News Service): The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, admitted for the first time on Wednesday that members of his family had been affected by HIV/AIDS.
Mr Mugabe told a conference on AIDS that unnamed members of his family had become ill from the disease. Describing HIV/AIDS as "one of the greatest challenges facing our nation", he said that most people had been affected "and that includes the extended family of the president himself".
The admission came after years of official neglect of a virus that has infected almost a quarter of adults in Zimbabwe, one of the highest prevalence rates in the world. In 2003 1.8 million Zimbabweans were infected and a recent survey found that 51% of prisoners were HIV-positive.
As many as 3,000 people in Zimbabwe die of AIDS-related illnesses each week, a toll largely blamed for a drop in life expectancy to 36 years. Figures released this week showed that 135,000 people died of AIDS last year.
Mr Mugabe was speaking at the country's first AIDS conference, which was designed to enable officials, health workers and community groups to draw up a strategy to fight the disease.
His revelation put him in the company of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's former president, who broke a taboo by speaking publicly of losing relatives to the disease.
Other former presidents have gone further by specifying that they lost not just members of their extended family, which in Africa can be large, but close relatives. Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda said his son had died of AIDS and Malawi's Bakili Muluzi his brother.
Mr Mugabe may have noted that those admissions earned plaudits at home and abroad for helping to fight the stigma of a disease which affects an estimated 30 million Africans.
On Wednesday Mugabe also asked the private sector for help. "There is no doubt that HIV and AIDS is one of the greatest challenges facing our nation. The disease does not respect status, it does not respect colour ... It is a war that belongs to all of us," he said.
"We appeal for the greater participation of the private sector. I believe there is scope for [the] government and the pharmaceutical companies to work together so as to bring the prices of the drugs down and enable more of our people to benefit."
The UN, a cosponsor of the event, said economic hardships had led people, particularly women, to take sexual risks.
"The fact that it has taken us this long just to hold a conference shows how much the government has neglected the suffering caused by AIDS," said one delegate, a doctor.
Only about 5% of the population has come forward for testing, reflecting a continent-wide reluctance to know one's HIV status.
In a rare display of unity last month, nine government and opposition members of parliament (MPs) went for voluntary counselling and testing, prompting critics to ask when the president would make a high-profile gesture of his own.
The government denies accusations it has lacked the political will to deal effectively with the crisis, first reported in Zimbabwe 18 years ago.
It established the National AIDS Council, but the organisation has been plagued by corruption scandals. Critics say it only funds groups controlled by Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
"The fact that it has taken us this long just to hold a conference shows how much the government has neglected the suffering caused by AIDS," said one delegate, a doctor.
Actually, this is the result of an oppressive regime and running to the most corrupt organization on earth (UN) for help isn't the answer either. Its sad to say, but a huge number of Africans are going to die from this. The cause of this is ignorance that is allowed by oppressive dictators, this is not George Bush's fault or America's fault.
Considering it's Mugabe, why didn't he catch it? His country would be better off. However, it does say one thing. Mugabe doesn't teach safe sex.
Well GOSH, Robert. Weren't you just a few years ago saying that the whole thing was bogus?
So what are you gonna DO about it, Mugabe? Whine that it is somehow OUR fault? Blame it on the white folks?
Boo-freakin-Hoo!!
Maybe you'd like to explain just HOW your family has caught AIDS......? Off of a doorknob perhaps?
I thought it was Reagan's fault. /sarcasm
Mugabe didn't get it because the Devil protects his own.
The world would be a better place if he were not in it.
Awwww Poor fella. N ow if only someone would put him out of his countrys misery.
I've got a gesture with Mugabe's name written all over it.
Mugabe. The name always makes me laugh. Wish he was funny too.
Certainly the Zimbabwean pharmaceutical companies must be pouring their prodigious resources into this?
The president of Nigeria is named Festus. Now that's funny.
Doesn't it ever occur to anyone why Africans are dying like lemmings going over a cliff, yet Americans who copulate unprotected like bunnies aren't?????? It's because African's aren't dying from HIV. They are dying from a wasting disease and a vast assortment of indigenous diseases that we don't have or can protect against.
Ok. Let's all repeat after me. HIV doesn't cause AIDS, and AIDS is NOT a sexually-transmitted disease.
You may now resume your normal reading of FR.
"AIDS has hit my family, says Mugabe"
I for one hope it goes straight to the top.
LSHPIP!!
Doubtless.
ping
ping
Guess their waiting for the US pharmaceuticals to come up with a cure since the Americans pay higher prescription prices to subsidize the medical treatment in 3rd world countries like Mugabe's. Interesting before Mugabe and his asinine economic policies, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia known by its previous name) was a thriving country economically.
"LSHPIP!!"
??????
I read that us evil Americas subsidize around 70% of the worlds medicines. Let alone the R and D.
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