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Let's get on with the business of saving people's lives" - Desmond Tutu
02 December 2003. Cape Times. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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"Let's get on with the business of saving people's lives." This was the message from Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu at an HIV/AIDS panel discussion on Monday.
Speaking at the University of Cape Town on World AIDS Day, Tutu lashed out at the government's HIV/AIDS policy before it changed to include a national anti-retroviral drug roll-out.
"We were engaging in futile discussions on what might cause HIV/AIDS while our people were dying like flies. A considerable amount of energy was dissipated in scoring points against each other, which was contrary to the spirit of the anti-apartheid struggle.
"But because of the dramatic change in government policy, South Africans are feeling euphoric. We are in a seventh-heaven delight."
"The disease can only be overcome when it (the fight) is led enthusiastically by a government evoking the spirit and enthusiasm that defeated that other scourge - apartheid. We overcame apartheid. We have the commitment to struggle against HIV/AIDS and overcome it."
Tutu said communities and the government should work together to combat the disease and reject stigmatisation because HIV/AIDS affected everyone.
The department of health's director of the national HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases programme, Rose Malumba, agreed with Tutu.
"This is a very special day in South Africa. It is a new dawn for government, the country and community. The challenge is huge but it is time to embrace it. We have come a long way and we need to work together, not against each other."
Assistant director-general at the World Health Organisation Joy Phumaphi said: "Treatment is no longer an option. It is part of prevention, of caring and support. It will help break the stigma around HIV/AIDS as more people will come forward to receive anti-retrovirals, giving them the opportunity to live."
She said people needed to take action now and hold on to hope.
HIV/AIDS activist Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwyo said: "There is a way to live positively with HIV and make those suffering from the disease victors rather than victims.
"Let's look at the kind of messages we are sending out. HIV/AIDS is not about dying, but about living." |
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