Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International - Sunday, 2 July 2000
Timothy Kalyegira
Addressing a conference of American and South African experts in Cape Town, Zuma said the crisis could not be effectively addressed before solving the problem of rampant poverty.
"Here in our own continent we are seeing we need an African solution to the problem," Zuma said. "One has to recognize that these are people faced with a greater reality of survival against all odds, for whom the scourge of HIV/ Aids is merely one more difficulty to contend with in their lives.
"We do believe that unless we deal effectively with issues of poverty, ignorance and backwardness, in our country and continent, many of our programs to combat crime, violence, HIV/Aids and so on, will not succeed in the long run," he said.
The Cape Town conference comes a week before the 13th international AIDS conference that will take place in the port city of Durban.
An estimated 4.2 million South Africans - about 10 percent of the population -- are infected with HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS. South Africa has both the world's largest number of HIV-positive people and the highest infection rate - nearly 1 in 5 Sou8th Africans has HIV or AIDS.
The southern African region - including countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana - also has been hit hard by AIDS and awareness campaigns were only made a national priority starting in 1998.
But the South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang Sunday expressed doubt over the accuracy of United Nations statistics on HIV infection in Africa. South African radio Sunday quoted her as saying the UN's figures were exaggerated.
Tshabalala-Msimang is the second senior government official to stir controversy by casting doubt over the general picture of AIDS in Africa. In April, President Thabo Mbeki infuriated AIDS researchers and health workers worldwide when he raised doubts that there was a link between the HIV virus and AIDS.
In a newspaper article published by the Sunday Independent newspaper, three cabinet ministers denied that Mbeki had ever questioned the co-relation between HIV and AIDS.
"Simply put, the president has never stated that HIV does not cause AIDS," Essop Pahad, Ben Ngubane and Manto Tshabalala-Msimang wrote.
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