San Francisco Examiner - May 24, 2000
Eric Brazil

Mbeki said the recent offer from five U.S. companies to give South Africa a price break on the retroviral drugs they manufacture doesn't figure in his immediate plans for addressing the epidemic.

The consequence of accepting the offer "would be that we then would have to spend our entire public health budget" on those drugs, Mbeki told a crowd of 500 in the Fairmont Hotel's Terrace Room.

"So what is to be done?" he asked. "We have to intensify our efforts to understand the specifics of the problem to achieve an effective program. . . . The problem here is that a lot of dogma attaches to this particular area, and to debate the real questions becomes difficult."

Mbeki, 57, who succeeded Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa in June, devoted most of his address to what he regards as the need for "an urgent, comprehensive response" by developed countries to the downward economic slide of Third World nations. Without such a response, Mbeki said, the economic and social opportunities made possible by globalization, which "collapses time and space," can't be realized.

1 in 10 infected with HIV

South Africa is suffering from 40 percent unemployment, and encouraging U.S. investment in his country was a principal reason for Mbeki's first U.S. visit. Despite what he called a powerful bond between the two countries, "the flow of investment to South Africa has not met our expectations," he said.

Health officials estimate that as many as one in 10 South Africans is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Mbeki has in the past questioned whether AIDS is in fact caused by HIV, and his skepticism about the retroviral drug AZT - a common treatment in the United States and elsewhere - has caused him to recommend against its use for pregnant women.

South Africa has mounted a public education campaign to address the AIDS crisis and budgeted money for research on developing a vaccine, Mbeki noted. But he said he remains unconvinced that his country's response should follow that of the United States and other developed countries that have addressed the issue in similar fashion.

Mbeki was a lifelong political activist and most of his career was spent overseas, working for the long-outlawed African National Congress. He has been criticized for taking counsel from scientists who are convinced that AIDS is not caused by the HIV virus.

Alternative AIDS treatment

In his defense, Mbeki said that the AIDS debate is 15 years old and that "there are unresolved questions that impact on the kinds of work that needs to be done." Consequently, he said, the views of health professionals who disagree with mainstream conclusions about the cause and treatment of AIDS should be considered.

Mbeki was scheduled to meet with Gov. Davis in San Jose on Wednesday afternoon.

Davis aide Byron Tucker said that trade between California and South Africa will be the principal subject of the San Jose talks. California exported $271 million in goods to South Africa in 1998.
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