Manto lays down Aids semantics
2003-11-19 18:34
Special Report
The South African government has announced a joint venture to reduce the cost of anti-retroviral drugs with a Swiss company.
Cape Town - A forward stroke instead of the word "and" could sow confusion about the difference between life and death, according to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
One should use the term HIV and Aids, and not HIV/Aids, she emphasised at the start of a briefing on the operational plan for the treatment of the disease approved by cabinet on Wednesday.
One journalist asked about this insistence, wondering whether that had anything to do with a belief that there was no connection between the two.
"I don't want to go into the area of causality," the minister's answer started.
"... We should understand that if you are HIV-positive it doesn't mean you are going to die tomorrow. There are lots of things you can do in the intervening period before you get to this point where you've got Aids-defining diseases."
This was what people needed to concentrate on in order to prolong their lives, she said.
"If you link them - I don't say they're not linked - but if you just do a stroke it gives a very gloomy picture like today you're HIV-positive, tomorrow you're going to die...
"If you say it's HIV and Aids actually you have a defining period there."
There were many things HIV-positive people could do to prolong their lives, according to Tshabalala-Msimang.
These included nutrition, stress management, changing their lifestyle, "preferably not smoke - I think we have encouraged people not to smoke - while I understand you can have a glass of wine now and again."
- SAPA