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Health Minister finalises special HIV/AIDS nutrition plan
Christelle Terreblanche and Jeremy Michaels. 12 June 2003. Daily News. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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Prescribed special diets for HIV/Aids and TB sufferers are being finalised by the government this week and pilot projects are already up and running across the country.
Health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang disclosed this yesterday during question-time in parliament and said a team had developed a "draft nutritional supplementation intervention".
She was asked by the Democratic Alliance (DA) whether her controversial nutritional adviser, dr Roberto Giraldo, had devised a nutritional supplementation programme for HIV/AIDS treatment, in which foods and supplements were included, and how this would help to combat HIV/AIDS.
Tshabalala-Msimang said a plan was indeed developed after a workshop in January with Giraldo, along with experts from Kenya and Tanzania, and will be finalised at a health Minmec meeting tomorrow.
"The intervention would overall improve the quality of life of people with TB and HIV/AIDS through macro- and micro-nutrients to boost the integrity of the body's immune system, to help it fight off infection," she said.
"But it is important that we all eat balanced diets. Dr Giraldo proved that to me. Our food processing these days is nothing to write home about."
The different diets and combinations of nutrients were being tested across the country with the help of the Medical Research Council and the University of the Free State.
The minister's personal obsession with nutrition and her relationship with HIV/AIDS "dissident" Giraldo recently put her in the firing line, especially after she lauded the benefits of the African potato, garlic, olive oil and onions in fighting the disease. She would not elaborate on a question by the DA on whether the diets would substitute anti-retroviral medicine and on how the diets relate to the treatment plan being costed by a government task team.
Earlier this week, the minister said in a speech the treatment plan would include a "greater focus on nutrition to encourage positive living and to delay the progression from HIV to AIDS". |
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