Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - Friday December 8, 2000
Ravi Nessman, Associated Press Writer
"This disease knows no boundaries, knows no particular people, it's just an equality killer," she said. "What is important is that finally the world is paying attention to the disease."
But more needs to be done, she said as she toured the Perinatal HIV Research Unit at Soweto's Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. The unit is one of 11 South African sites that receives U.S. funding for HIV research.
The United States is also providing $40 million over the next five years to help South Africa increase awareness about the disease.
South Africa, with an estimated 4.2 million HIV-positive people, has the largest population of HIV-infected people in the world.
Albright later met with President Thabo Mbeki, and discussed the disease as well as other regional issues.
"We generally talked about the need for clearer statements and the need for better education about HIV/AIDS in smaller communities not immediately available to the national media centers," Albright said.
The South African president has suffered withering international condemnation for entertaining the views of fringe theorists who doubt the link between HIV and AIDS and, in some cases, doubt the existence of the disease at all. Official announced two months ago that Mbeki would pull back from the AIDS debate.
South Africa also has been criticized for refusing to provide anti-retroviral medication to pregnant women to prevent the transmission of the virus to their babies in childbirth. Recently, however, the government gave conditional approval to the anti-retroviral drug nevirapine, to be distributed to pregnant women.
Additionally, South Africa agreed last week to accept a $50 million donation from the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer of the drug fluconazole, which treats meningitis and a debilitating throat inflammation common among AIDS patients.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang took steps against the stigma of HIV last week by revealing that some of her friends and relatives were infected.
Deputy Minister Jacob Zuma on Wednesday admitted that despite the government's efforts "the HIV/AIDS army marches on unchecked on its path of destruction."
The government had no choice but to change its tone, said Mark Heywood, director of the AIDS Law Project.
"The AIDS epidemic is becoming more and more in your face to quite a number of people. People are dying, people are seeing people dying, and there are senior politicians in the Cabinet who are clearly now of the view that we must do something about it," he said.
Earlier Friday, Albright met privately with Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town and had breakfast with a group of female business and government leaders.
Albright will fly to the island nation of Mauritius on Saturday, then will stop in Botswana. She also plans to travel to Algeria on Tuesday for the signing of a peace treaty between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which formally ends a two-year border war. She will then travel to Hungary and Brussels.
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