Browsing by Subject "antiretrovirals"

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    Cognitive dissonance as an explanation of the genesis, evolution and persistence of Thabo Mbeki's HIV denialism
    (2008) Kenyon, Chris
    The ongoing damage that the newer forms of HIV denialism are visiting upon our country is evidenced by the recent firing of Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, the South African Deputy Minister of Health. It is widely believed that the underlying reason for her dismissal was her support of orthodox HIV treatment and prevention strategies and her disdain for HIV denialism. This paper seeks to understand the origins, spread and metamorphosis of President Thabo Mbeki's HIV denialism in South Africa. Using the theory of cognitive dissonance, I argue that, given the structural beliefs of the African National Congress (ANC) and the pattern of emergence of HIV in the 1980s, a degree of scepticism around the putative science of HIV was probable in ANC circles. On assuming the Presidency in 1999, Mbeki tapped into this scepticism to formulate his initial biological version of HIV denialism, which claimed that 'a virus can't cause a syndrome.' The steady erosion of support for this flagrant HIV denialism, together with the rise of neoliberal thinking in the ANC, would lead to the evolution of this biological denialism into a form of treatment denialism. This ideology argued against the widespread provision and use of antiretroviral treatment. Empirical evidence is presented to demonstrate the extent to which ongoing HIV denial in the general population is continuing to fuel the spread of HIV.
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    South Africa's ''Rollout'' of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy: A Critical Assessment
    (Celia Braithwait, 2006) Nattrass, Nicoli
    The number of people on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in South Africa has risen from ,2000 in October 2003, to almost 200,000 by the end of 2005. Yet South Africa’s performance in terms of HAART coverage is poor both in comparison with other countries and the targets set by the government’s own Operational Plan. The public-sector HAART ‘‘rollout’’ has been uneven across South Africa’s nine provinces and the role of external assistance from NGOs and funding agencies such as the Global Fund and PEPFAR has been substantial. The National Treasury seems to have allocated sufficient funding to the Department of Health for a larger HAART rollout, but the Health Minister has not mobilized it accordingly. Failure to invest sufficiently in human resources— especially nurses—is likely to constrain the growth of HAART coverage.
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    Televising Treatment: The Political Struggle for Antiretrovirals on South African Television
    (Society for the Social History of Medicine, 2010) Hodes, Rebecca
    Siyayinqoba/Beat It! is an activist-aligned television programme first broadcast on South African national television in 1999. This article documents how Beat It! used the educative power of television to demystify HIV treatment and generate support for public access to antiretroviral medicines (ARVs). It seeks to address gaps in scholarship about the historical representation of HIV in the South African media, and explores how Beat It!'s earliest critique was directed at the profiteering of pharmaceutical corporations, in reflection of the struggle of HIV treatment activists against the exorbitant cost of branded ARVs. This article also examines Beat It!'s broadcast of the activist struggle against the state's refusal to roll-out a public programme for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Through its galvanising portrayals of the imperatives of HIV treatments, Beat It! encouraged viewers to fight for public access.