Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Tue, 16 Oct 2001
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Conflicting Reports Over AIDS Deaths Cause Debate in South Africa
South African AIDS activists yesterday accused the government of "de-
liberately seeking to muddy the debate" over HIV/AIDS by issuing a
report contradicting the findings of the country's top medical re-
search group, Reuters reports. In a report to be released today, the
government-funded Medical Research Council states that HIV/AIDS is
already the cause of 40% of deaths among 15- to 49-year-olds and
could kill up to seven million South Africans by 2010. However, a re-
port compiled by Statistics South Africa, a government agency, used a
lower HIV transmission rate and estimated that HIV/AIDS-related
deaths will only reach one million by the end of the decade. The MRC
report was leaked to several media outlets last month. Mark Heywood,
national director of the Treatment Action Campaign, said that South
African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been criticized for question-
ing the causal link between HIV and AIDS, was using the statistics
office as a "bull dog" to "ravage" the MRC's findings and support his
views on the South African HIV/AIDS situation. "A damaging discussion
has been set up and fueled by a government which instead of giving
inconclusive political leadership is acting in a way that is alienat-
ing and damaging," Heywood added. Nkululeko Nxesi, director of the
National Association of People Living with AIDS, called the debate
over the findings a "waste of time," adding, "It doesn't matter
whether it's three million people, 100 million people or 100 people.
People are dying every day." Nxesi "urg[ed]" the government to "refo-
cus" on disease education and treatment. The collection and analysis
of AIDS data in South Africa is complicated because HIV/AIDS is not a
notifiable disease and families do not frequently list the disease on
death certificates because of the associated stigma (Swindells,
Reuters, 10/15).
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