|
|
 |
Erwin stands in way of cheap relief, says TAC
Liz Clarke. The Mercury, May 09, 2002. Reprinted courtesy Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd
|
We are not out to overthrow the government. We are only concerned with doing the right thing. If the government is "paranoid" about our organisation it is their business.
That was the tough, no-nonsense message from Treatment Action Campaign national chairperson Zachie Achmat at a public lecture at the Howard College campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday.
In his first public address after the Constitutional Court appeal hearing last week on the issue of the anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine for HIV-positive pregnant women and their babies, Achmat said that injustice would be fought every step of the way, both nationally and internationally.
"Where our fledgling democracy is failing the poor and the dying, we will fight," he said. "We don't deny global multi-nationals making a profit. What we are against is profiteering."
Achmat said that where the government was prepared to change its stance and "provide medicines and resources for those who need it", the TAC would do all it could to assist and encourage their efforts.
He said that while the government's change of heart on the causes and treatment of Aids was "welcomed", there were still powerful members of the government firmly stuck in the denialist camp.
"I believe that people like the minister of trade and industry, Alec Erwin, are among them.
"It is people like him that are in the way of South Africa obtaining generic licenses for cheaper medication".
Speaking about his own experiences as a person living with HIV/AIDS, he said that every person living in South Africa should strive to become "scientifically literate" about HIV/AIDS and the workings of their own immune system.
"It is vital that all of us know what a CD4 count is and how the immune system becomes weaker when these "helper" cells are destroyed by the virus."
Whereas in the past these tests were expensive - R480 per CD4 test - they were now R82. This meant, he said, that the monitoring of the disease was now a lot more affordable. |
| Was this article helpful to you? |
 ?0%???? ?0%
|
|
Back
|
|
|
|
