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.
I have been out of the industry for forever, but I DID used to work for Upjohn when the first AIDS cases came here.
At one time, I knew a fair amount about it, and i did hospice care for som of the very first AIDS patients in this country.
I persoanlly believe that the reason South Africans are getting it in droves is because of the propaganda their government hands them ( the disease does not exist) and because for the men, it is okay to boink anything that has two legs ( this includes ducks, BTW. ) Since ther eIS no stigma on teh behavior, it has spread like wild-fire and a lot of people, 9 wives and little kids) have gotten it who have not deserved, it, never earned it, do not need it and are helpless againts it.
There is ALSO the wide-spread beliefe that if yo are a male who is HIV positive, and can catch a virgin and force her to sex, it will cure you. WHOLE lot of little girls being infected that way....
Africa depresses me.
Laughed So Hard Peed in Pants
He shouldn't have any problem finding an infant for his relative to have sex with. And just for preventitive reasons he'll probably do a couple himself.
I wouldnt be surprised if Mugabe himself is in fact infected...if not with AIDS, then most likely untreated Syphillis.
Robert Mugabe was featured prominently among the notables who were wished a premature demise by "Sir" Elton.
Now if only all the other despots on the continent could all serve out their terms like Emperor Bokassa.
Didn't Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini both have sexually transmitted diseases?
Never heard the song.
A true Zen saying if I ever heard one.
FMCDH(BITS)
He must have head that GW has increased the funding for AIDs in Africa.
I hope one of the "unnamed members" is Mugabe himself.
I think it was a B-Side to one of his more recent albums.
Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not a big fan, so I couldn't help you with a specific title of either the song or albulm.
Sorry.
I wrote this as a rply to a thread where Mugumby was touting the Chinese as spreading democracy. LAst fall.
Mugabe’s Democracy
I tell you he’s a genius,
“China, Human Rights?”
Democracy from China,
Who turned off his lights?
I only hope this was a joke,
Just like my little rhyme.
Zimbabwe is a shining star,
For tyranny and crime.
I guess I need to sell a clue,
To Little ol Mugabe.
Your people were much better off,
In Colonized Zimbabwe.
Conspiracy Guy 12/16/03
He has been ill.
It was the most pathetic whitewash that I've ever seen broadcast on a major television station.
The idea that this cretinous individual actually has his defenders, e.g. Charles Barron, Gil Noble, the nut-jobs over at WBAI, leaves me in a state of perpetual consternation.
Don't these jackasses even realize how weak their arguments are?
Do they even care a fig for the black people who will be slaughtered during the course of Mugabe's reign of terror?
It truly boggles the mind.
Naturally, this statement has one minor problem, and I have corrected it.
The Scourge of Yazid wrote:
Yeah, but the brief mention of Mugabe made me bust a gut!
Unbelievable that nobody yet has "taken care" of Zim's mad man....
I don't think that even his personal psychiatrist-if he even has one-would dispute the fact that his client is pathologically insane.
Great job! Of course it could be the higher-ups like Kofi spreading this.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1143353/posts
Chances are the Mugumby is just trying to get his greedy mitts on some of that money Congress is appropriating for AIDS in Africa.
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