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Minister keeps mum on latest AIDS figures
Lynne Altenroxel The Star, June 05 2002. Reprinted courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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The results are in. The books are printed. But the contents remain a secret.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is keeping South Africa's latest HIV statistics firmly under lock and key.
For more than two months, researchers, AIDS activists and journalists have been waiting for the results of the latest government yearly HIV survey.
The survey, which is conducted by testing pregnant women attending government clinics every October, is the only source of countrywide statistics on the spread of the epidemic. Results are usually released in March.
Figures obtained during 1999 and 2000 gave hope that the HIV epidemic might be levelling off. Without the latest numbers, it is impossible to be sure.
With just four months to go before the next round of testing in October, South Africans are still waiting for the latest figures. The minister has given no reason for the delay.
Tshabalala-Msimang has in the past few weeks repeatedly alluded to a drop in the infection rate among under-20s. The figures are believed to show the epidemic might be stabilising.
Treatment Action Campaign chairperson Zackie Achmat is "seriously worried that the government is delaying the release of the results".
On Tuesday, Democratic Alliance MP Sandy Kalyan asked the minister in Parliament to explain the reason for the delay.
The answer, according to health department spokesperson Jo-Anne Collinge, is that the minister has simply not had time. |
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