Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - March 19, 2006
Touting the latest herbal "remedy", Ubhejane - which is taken to the exclusion of Aids drugs that work - for hospice patients in Durban is not only irresponsible but may shorten their life expectancy.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is a qualified medical doctor who should know the difference between products that have passed clinical trials and those that have yet to pass the safety and efficacy tests.
This is not the first time her support for traditional cures has undermined the antiretroviral drugs provided in the national Aids treatment programme. It is her job to provide leadership on the best available health choices for the nation, not to blur the boundaries between the medicines that combat the Aids virus and herbs and vitamins that boost immunity.
If South Africa is lucky, Ubhejane or some other indigenous medicine will in future be found to be another weapon against HIV/Aids. But until then, the Health minister should respect the protocols of drug testing, which are designed to protect the public. The clinical drug trial disaster in London this week, which left six volunteers seriously ill, shows why rigorous testing is needed.
A short, observational trial of Ubhejane showed it enhanced people's wellbeing and laboratory tests found that it was not toxic to cells. With this flimsy evidence, Ubhejane maker Zeblon Gwala claims it is a "cure" for Aids.
Even more disturbing is that Professor Herbert Vilakazi, the special adviser to the KwaZulu-Natal premier, is using his political connections to punt Ubhejane. Vilakazi is not a neutral party; he has a stake in the Ubhejane company and the profits it makes.
He and Gwala claim to have met the Health minister many times. Both Tshabalala-Msimang and the KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Peggy Nkonyeni, recently recommended the mixture to the manager of a Durban hospice. Mayor Obed Mlaba is sponsoring its supply to another hospice.
Gwala will not disclose what's in the bitter liquid, not even to the scientist who hopes to run human trials on it. But he insists that his patients choose between it and antiretroviral drugs.
This approach is similar to that of vitamin salesman Dr Matthias Rath, who is treating Aids patients in the Western Cape with high doses of vitamins and requires that they stop taking antiretrovirals. He has also had the ear of the Health minister.
Rath and Vilakazi must not be allowed to mislead politicians with inflated claims. And the Health minister must not let her fervent support for the long overdue development of African traditional medicines blind her to the excellent track record of drugs like antiretrovirals.
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