January 07, 2005
Mandela speaks out on HIV/AIDS
By Zach Neumann
Nelson Mandela once again displayed the courage and resolve that made him famous. The NY Times reports:
Nelson Mandela, who has devoted much of his life after leaving South Africa's presidency to a campaign against AIDS, said Thursday that his son had died of the disease in a Johannesburg clinic.
The son, Makgatho L. Mandela, 54, had been seriously ill for more than a month, but the nature of his ailment had not been made public before his death on Thursday.
At a news conference in the garden of his Johannesburg home, the elder Mr. Mandela said he was disclosing the cause of his son's death to focus more attention on AIDS, which is still a taboo topic among many South Africans. To keep the illness secret would wrongly imply that it is shameful, he said.
"That is why I have announced that my son has died of AIDS," he said. "Let us give publicity to H.I.V./AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of H.I.V./AIDS, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary."
I am glad to see prominent African leaders being upfront about the HIV/AIDS crisis. I hope that Mandela’s behavior will inspire others to take a more personal approach to victims.
Posted by Zach Neumann at January 7, 2005 02:27 AM
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In Southern Africa, many political leaders deny the existence of AIDS or that it can be transmitted sexually. A lot of it has to do with the society's view of women as chattel. Given that backdrop, this is a big deal.
I am fed up of people claiming mbeki caused, HIV, the fact was when the anc topokover, South africa had the highest HIV rate on earth, and conitual increasues, it had the highest rape total, and if they had concentrated on stopping HIV, which teh prior national regime, had never done, investors would have left and civil war would have occured, Also it is no coincicence the most unequal lands on earth brazil and sa, had high huiv rates, and thiland the sex centre, the anc could not have stoopped teh increase by a year with such a high rape rate, caused by apartheid surely and with such high inequaklity
