治療行動運動 (TAC) 抨擊姆貝基對愛滋病毒的看法
南非前總統在向南非大學 (UNISA) 發表講話時重複了對這種疾病的誤解
資料來源：2022 年 9 月 28 日 | Mary-Anne GontsanaNews |南非
前總統塔博·姆貝基再次發現自己與艾滋病毒活動家發生衝突。
照片：Mohamed Nanabhay（來自 Flickr，CC BY 2.0）
• TAC 要求前總統塔博·姆貝基道歉。
• 姆貝基 (Mbeki) 在一次演講中重複了關於 HIV 的令人困惑的陳述。
• GroundUp 的編輯內森·格芬 (Nathan Geffen) 直接記錄了姆貝基在HIV/AIDS上遺留的事跡。
治療行動運動（The Treatment Action Campaign, TAC）呼籲前總統塔博·姆貝基（Thabo Mbeki）上週三在南非大學（UNISA）發表演講時所表達關於愛滋病毒/愛滋病上「抱持不同政見者」之觀點向公眾道歉。
在 TAC 週二發表的一份嚴厲聲明中，該組織表示，「以如此麻木不仁的傲慢重複他的錯誤科學觀點是對南非 800 萬愛滋病毒感染者和過去 30多年以來從 HIV 中感染而死亡之400 萬南非人其家庭之侮辱。」。
姆貝基同時也是 UNISA 的校長，他在每年舉行兩次的活動中與學生、外交官和媒體成員交談，並允許學生就影響非洲人的相關問題與他進行互動。
TAC 指責姆貝基在質疑愛滋病的病因時誤導了公眾。該組織還繼續說，姆貝基對已故前衛生部長曼托·查巴拉拉-姆西芒（Manto Tshabalala-Msimang）的觀點的支持，再次讓他們感到震驚，「她因宣傳大蒜和甜菜根作為控制愛滋病的基本成分，給它一個比抗反轉錄病毒 (ARV) 治療更高的額外費用而受到嘲笑」。
聲明說：「雖然所有健康食品都可能有好處，但認為這些蔬菜是治療愛滋病最需要的東西的想法實際上是沒有根據的，而且會誤導公眾」。
在活動中提出問題後談到愛滋病毒/愛滋病，姆貝基說他當時提出的問題，他今天仍然會提出。他強調，愛滋病是一種綜合症候群，而不是一種疾病。
「現在這種症候群在醫學上是一組疾病。所以所有這些屬於這種症候群的疾病，如腦膜炎、肺結核，都屬於這種症候群」。
「結核病的原因是已知的和歷史上的，但它是症候群的一部分。所以你不能說一種病毒會導致所有這些疾病，你可以說這種病毒對免疫系統產生負面影響，是免疫系統減弱導致了一種症候群」。
「但是這種想法會產生一個後果，那就是當你去檢測時，檢測結果顯示 HIV 呈陽性……這並不一定意味著你感染了病毒。這意味著免疫系統正在對威脅身體的事物做出反應，因此您需要進行臨床分析以確定免疫系統正在排斥的事物是什麼。在所有相關的醫療文件中，這是正確的，因為你必須去進行臨床檢查，以確定症候群中的哪些疾病是影響這個人的疾病。然後你為那個人治療那種特定的疾病」，姆貝基說。
在提到 Tshabalala-Msimang 的觀點時，姆貝基首先表示，作為政府，他們必須以有效的方式應對愛滋病毒/愛滋病大流行，為此需要採取各種介入措施。
「這就是為什麼當時的衛生部長以非常戲劇性的方式提出了這個問題。營養。營養對於解決這個問題非常關鍵，這就是為什麼她說我們必須吃大蒜和甜菜根等等。她不是說用這些東西你會被治癒」。
「她提出了關於營養重要性的問題。即使在今天，這些特殊類型的食物也是在 Covid-19 的背景下提出的」，姆貝基說。
TAC 成功地在 2000 年代推動運動要求姆貝基政府推出救命的藥物，但卻沒有給人留下深刻的印象。
TAC 聲明說：「在涉及愛滋病毒方面，存在很多持續的污名和否認，我們呼籲姆貝基先生停止發表沒有事實根據的關於愛滋病毒的言論」。
它說：「前總統的聲明提醒我們，他的不科學觀點導致在他擔任總統期間推遲推出抗反轉錄病毒治療 (ARV) 計畫」。
TAC 的秘書長 Anele Yawa 表示，如果 Mbeki 不準備道歉，該組織將確保他對HIV的否認和由此導致的數以千計的人之死亡將是唯一永誌難忘的事情。
在塔博·姆貝基擔任南非總統期間，下列這些是涉及愛滋病毒/愛滋病的事實
作者：GroundUp 編輯 Nathan Geffen
在談到 HIV/AIDS 時，很少有人清楚塔博·姆貝基 (Thabo Mbeki) 的含義。這有很多混淆。但關鍵事實是：
1. HIV 會破壞感染者的免疫系統細胞。
2. 通常在幾年的時間裡，如果不及時治療，免疫系統會崩潰，導致人們罹患危及生命的感染。這被稱為愛滋病。
3. 只有抗反轉錄病毒藥物才能阻止這一過程。它們非常有效，以至於服用它們的愛滋病毒感染者的預期壽命幾乎恢復到正常水平。
4. HIV檢測很可靠。如果遵循正確的操作步驟，錯誤結果的可能性非常小。
5. 儘管從 1990 年代中期到後期有效的抗逆轉錄病毒藥物組合已可以使用，但姆貝基政府將公共部門抗反轉錄病毒治療的推出推遲到 2004 年才開始。
6. 只是由於 TAC 及其盟友的壓力，姆貝基政府才在公共部門提供抗反轉錄病毒藥物。
7. 由於 TAC（及其盟友）發動運動以對抗製藥公司，讓這些藥物的價格也變得可以承受。儘管姆貝基對這些公司發表了修辭之言論，但姆貝基政府在這些努力中基本上是擅離職守。
8. 兩項不同的研究估計，延遲推出抗反轉錄病毒藥物導致超過 300,000 人可避免的死亡。這些估計還是保守的。
9. 這些估計還排除了那些因為被姆具基 (Mbeki)、查巴拉拉-姆西芒 (Tshabalala-Msimang) 和他們的追隨者說服，嘗試以其他的治療方法作為抗反轉錄病毒藥物替代品而死亡的人。在抗反轉錄病毒治療開始推出很久之後，姆貝基和他的衛生部長繼續推廣這些胡說八道的補救措施。
格芬 (Geffen)從 2000 年到 2013 年間參與了 TAC。
TAC slams Mbeki over his views on HIV
Former president repeated misconceptions about the disease when he addressed UNISA
28 September 2022 | Mary-Anne GontsanaNews | South Africa
Former President Thabo Mbeki has once more found himself in conflict with HIV activists. Photo: Mohamed Nanabhay (via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
•The TAC has demanded an apology from former president Thabo Mbeki.
•Mbeki repeated confusing statements about HIV during a lecture.
•GroundUp editor Nathan Geffen set the record straight about Mbeki’s HIV/AIDS legacy.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has called on former president Thabo Mbeki to offer an apology to the public for the “dissident” views he expressed about HIV/AIDS while delivering a speech at the University of South Africa (UNISA) last week Wednesday.
In a scathing statement published by the TAC on Tuesday, the organisation said the “repetition of his scientifically erroneous views with such insensitive arrogance is an insult to the 8 million people living with HIV in SA and the families of 4 million South Africans who have died from HIV over the last three decades”.
Mbeki, who is also the Chancellor at UNISA, was speaking to students, diplomats and members of the media at an event which takes place twice each year and allows students to interact with him on pertinent issues that affect Africans.
The TAC accuses Mbeki of misleading the public when he questions the cause of AIDS. The organisation also goes on to say that they were stunned again by Mbeki’s support of the views of the late former Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang “who was ridiculed for promoting garlic and beetroot as the essential ingredient to manage AIDS, giving it a higher premium than antiretroviral (ARV) treatment”.
“Whilst there may be benefits in all healthy foods, the idea that these vegetables are what are most required in the management of AIDS has no basis in fact and is misleading to the public,” said the statement.
Speaking about HIV/AIDS after a question was raised in the event, Mbeki said the questions that he raised then, he would still raise today. He emphasized that AIDS was a syndrome and not a disease.
“Now this syndrome in medical terms is a group of diseases. So all of these diseases which fall under this syndrome, meningitis, TB, they’re in the syndrome.”
“Causes of Tuberculosis are known and historical, but it’s part of the syndrome. So you can’t say one virus causes all of these illnesses, what you can say is this virus impacts negatively on the immune system, it’s that weakened immune system which results in a syndrome.”
“But there’s a consequence to that kind of thinking which is when you go to test and that test says HIV positive… it does not necessarily mean you’ve got the virus. What it means is that the immune system is responding to something that is threatening the body, and therefore you need a clinical analysis in order to determine what is this thing that the immune system is rejecting. It’s in all the medical documents that go about it, and it’s correct, because then you have to go and do this clinical examination in order to determine which of these illnesses in the syndrome is the one that’s affecting this person. And then you treat the person for that particular disease,” said Mbeki.
Mentioning the views of Tshabalala-Msimang, Mbeki started off by saying as government they had to respond in an effective manner to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and various interventions were needed to do this.
“Which is why the question was raised by the then Minister of Health in a very dramatic fashion. Nutrition. Nutrition is very very critical to solving this problem and that’s why she was saying that we must take garlic and beetroot and so on. She was not saying that with those things you’re going to be cured.”
“She was raising the matter about the importance of nutrition. And those particular types of foods even today have been raised in the context of this Covid-19,” said Mbeki.
The TAC, which successfully campaigned in the 2000s for Mbeki’s government to roll out life-saving medicines, was not impressed.
“There is much ongoing stigma and denial when it comes to HIV and we call on Mr Mbeki to desist from statements about HIV that have no basis in fact,” said the TAC statement.
It said: “The former president’s statements remind us that his unscientific views led to a delay in the rollout of the ARV programme during his presidency.”
The TAC’s General Secretary, Anele Yawa, said that if Mbeki was not prepared to apologise, the organisation would make sure that his HIV denialism and the thousands of deaths that resulted, would be the only thing that he would be remembered for.
These are the facts when it comes to HIV/AIDS under Thabo Mbeki’s presidency
By Nathan Geffen, GroundUp Editor
It’s seldom clear what Thabo Mbeki means when it comes to HIV/AIDS. There is much obfuscation. But the key facts are this:
1.HIV destroys immune system cells in infected people.
2.Usually over a period of several years, if left untreated, the immune system collapses, causing the person to become ill with life-threatening infections. This is known as AIDS.
3.Only antiretroviral medicines can halt this process. They have been so effective that the life-expectancy for people with HIV who take them is brought back to almost normal.
4.HIV tests are reliable. If proper protocols are followed the odds of an incorrect result are extremely small.
5.Mbeki’s government delayed the rollout of antiretroviral treatment in the public sector until 2004, even though an effective combination of antiretroviral medicines was available from the mid to late 1990s.
6.It was only due to pressure from the TAC and its allies that Mbeki’s government made antiretrovirals available in the public sector.
7.The prices of these medicines also became affordable because of the TAC’s (and its allies) campaigning against pharmaceutical companies. Mbeki’s government was largely AWOL in these efforts, despite Mbeki’s rhetoric about these companies.
8.Two different studies have estimated that the delayed rollout of antiretrovirals resulted in well over 300,000 avoidable deaths. These estimates are conservative.
9.These estimates also exclude those who died because they were convinced by Mbeki, Tshabalala-Msimang and their acolytes to try treatments promoted by as alternatives to antiretroviral medicines. The promotion of these nonsense remedies by Mbeki and his health minister continued long after the antiretroviral treatment rollout began.
Geffen was involved with the TAC from 2000 to 2013.