United Press International - Sunday, 9 July 2000
Ed Susman, UPI Science News

President Thabo Mbeki, who has been criticized for seeking unorthodox opinions regarding the AIDS epidemic, said he has asked prominent scientists to deliver a report on AIDS by the end of this year.

In the meantime, Mbeki outlined a South African plan to combat the disease which now affects an estimated 4.3 million people in his country; 24.5 million on his continent and 34.5 million in the world.

"You will see from that plan, together with the work that has been going on, that there is no substance to the allegation that there is any hesitation on the part of our government to confront the challenge of HIV/AIDS," Mbeki said as his speech that was broadcast live to his country.

However, Mbeki's 30-minute speech was called disappointing by others.

"It was hugely disappointing, devastatingly disappointing," said Phill Wilson, executive director of the African American AIDS Policy and Training Institute in Los Angeles.

Wilson said he and other AIDS specialists "wanted to see the moral authority of the leader of South Africa, but that's not what we saw. ``Because of my personal commitment to South Africa, I was hoping that President Mbeki would show his true colors and deliver a strong call for action against this disease. Instead he asked for a report."

US Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., on the other hand, said "the silence is being broken because people are beginning to talk about this epidemic. The internal debate is being discussed and sorted through, but the proposal of a national plan to fight AIDS is a major step in the right direction."

Lee is co-author of the "World Bank AIDS Marshall Plan Bill" in Congress, a proposal that would direct financial aid to fighting the disease in developing countries, especially Africa where the disease infects as many as 35 percent of the adults in some countries.

"Break the Silence" is the theme of the conference which brings together more than 10,000 scientists, academicians, people living with AIDS and associated health care workers in the biennial conference. It is the first time the conference is being held in Africa or in any country where a major percentage of the population has AIDS or is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In the plan outlined at the opening ceremonies, Mbeki promised to intensify the campaign to:

* Create a sustained public effort to encourage safe sex and the use of condoms.

* Focus a program targeted at the reduction and elimination of poverty and the improvement of national nutritional standards.

* Fight against the opportunistic infections that kill people infected with HIV.

* Respond humanely to people infected with the disease.

* Contribute to the international effort to develop an AIDS vaccine and develop new antiretroviral drugs.

But Wilson said, "The leader of this country failed to give a mandate to fight AIDS. It should have been an urgent call for action. His response to the epidemic was irresponsible."
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