south African government
While the world mourns the passing of Nelson Mandela some observers are mindful of the crucial role he played in promoting science at the heavy AIDS crisis in South Africa. protected and Mandela's successor as president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki rejected the scientific consensus and married the discredited view that HIV does not cause AIDS, popularized by the University of California, Berkeley, biologist molecular Peter Duesberg. Mbeki's refusal to bring government resources to bear against the disease is responsible for 300,000 unnecessary deaths, the researchers estimated.
In first public break with Mandela's African National Congress, which he had belonged to and taken over a period of 65 years, in 01, he denounced Mbeki's failure to fight against the epidemic . "We must not continue to debate, argue, when people die," Mandela said, reports Stephanie Nolen The Globe and Mail , which was based in South Africa from 03 to 08. D ' Meanwhile, a revered veteran, Mandela has the immense power of his moral authority to the need to change the policies of his country.
Mandela, however, "were late" in the fight against the disease, according to The Globe and Mail . During his presidency, he has relatively little attention to the epidemic growing rapidly and has supported Mbeki to deal with it. This approach allowed the infection to spread. Mandela was to give priority to even the most critical issues in the first crucial days of the establishment of non-racial democracy in the country long troubled his supporters argue.
When Mandela came out on the side to accept and act with vigor science, however, it has become a powerful and effective advocate, help reverse the trend of opinion and politics in his own country and elsewhere. In 05, Nolen reports, Mandela struck a blow against the huge social stigma of the disease in South Africa by announcing that his own son, Makgatho, "died of AIDS", as did the woman Makgatho . "Let us give publicity to HIV-AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and say that someone died because of HIV. And people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary, "Mandela said at the funeral of Makgatho.
The life of Mandela showed the value of forgiveness and reconciliation in human affairs, but also the importance of political leadership in embracing and acting on the best science.
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