South Africa gets involved

by Nadège and Noémie (Dec 1, 2003)

The South African government recently approved of a national plan against AIDS, asked for four years, in a country where there are five million Aids patients.
This plan is made of three steps:
- first : prevention (distribution of condoms even if the persons are too afraid to use them - they prefer to stop sexual intercourse)

- second : free distribution of medicine
- third : reform and restructuring of the medical system. That’s to say we’ll have to train a lot of persons in order to be sure that medicine will be used efficiently.
This plan was welcomed in South Africa even if people think it would have been better to adopt it sooner.

It’s also a big pity that this plan can’t be adopted in the whole Africa. But everybody knows it’s because the price of medicines fixed by laboratories to make profits is too high for those countries.

If you wish to react to this article, write to the editor.

I really was informed with your article about AIDS in South Africa. My aunt lives in Africa, she is a member of the Peace Corps. She lives in Tanzania. She just recently went to South Africa for medical. She and her husband held an AIDS conference with their classroom in Tanzania. Your article was very informing. Great work!

Allyson K (Muskegon High School, Michigan, USA)

I enjoyed reading your article on the new plan adopted by the South African government. My mother is originally from there and I am always interested in what is going on over there. Aids has been a horrible and devastating problem for South Africa for far too long. But it is good to know that the government is finally waking up to the problem and recognizing it. I feel that President Mbeki has taken too long to try and help the situation. At first, he believed that AIDS was not a large problem, something which astonished me and even angered me. All of my mother's family still lives there and I fear for them. My cousins which are in college told me that 1 in 2 college students have AIDS. That is extremely scary.

I found your article interesting and well written. Good job!

Don't you think that if christian religion is against using condoms and coranic religion is for multi-wedding for men without any health safety, they could help many many people in this continent to die... and so much more anywhere. The fact is that today if you are able to keep a people at a low level of education, you can make them do anything in the name of anyone. Let it be a good or a bad man or a group of men. What can foreign medecine do for local suffering ? And more so if they believe in a god who will save them ... KEEP THE FAITH !!!

Pascal (Blois)