19 August 2006
We rejects with contempt the statement made by Stephen Lewis with regard to response of South African Government to the challenge of HIV and AIDS.
Lewis' statement should not be viewed as representing the position of the United Nations and its agencies that continue to work with the Government of South Africa in responding to the challenge of HIV and AIDS.
Lewis has conveniently avoided facts about HIV and AIDS programmes that are being implemented in South Africa.
Lewis should tell the world which other developing country has invested resources comparable to South Africa in implementing HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment programmes. SA Government has tripled the budget allocation for the HIV and AIDS over the last four years from just over R1 billion in 2002 to R3.5 billion in 2005. This allocation constitutes 90% of resources currently being used to implement HIV and AIDS in South Africa.
Lewis should have courage to tell the world whether is there any other country in the world which distributes more 340 million male condoms and close to 3 million female condoms per year free of charge as South Africa does.
Lewis must answer whether is there any country that is providing nutritional support at the same scale as South Africa? If he is such a great friend of Africa, he should know about the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment in our continent. He should also know the fact that more than 80% of people of the continent use traditional medicine to meet some of their health needs. Does he want them to stop?
Lewis should name a country that has initiated more people on antiretroviral therapy than South Africa. By June 2006, more than 175 000 people had been initiated on antiretroviral therapy and this treatment is provided free of charge by Government in all 53 districts of the country.
If he wants to be regarded as a Messiah of the modern day Africa, he should answer these questions with facts and figures, not empty rhetoric. Lewis is quoted as saying: "South Africa will never achieve redemption for its AIDS policies".
What Africa needs now is not unsubstantiated attack on democratically elected governments, but delivery on the many resolutions made with regarding addressing poverty and underdevelopment which increases the vulnerability of our populations to diseases.
The time has come for the long-standing commitments such as debt relief, fair global trade environment and the pledge by the OECD Member States to commit 0.7% of gross national income for official development assistance to be fulfilled. It is time to deliver.
Progress in delivering on these commitments is fundamental to the world's ability to meet the commitment of universal access to HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment made at United Nations High Level meeting on HIV and AIDS held in New York in May this year.
The Government of South Africa cares about the health of its population and is implementing various programmes to curb the spread of HIV infection and reduce the impact of AIDS in our society.
Sibani Mngadi
Spokesperson for the Department of Health
Republic of South Africa
+27827720161