Monday, September 29, 2008
http://www.naturalnews.com/024353.html
Why the Institutions of Western Finance and Western Medicine are Both Doomed to Fail
by Mike Adams(NaturalNews) Here at NaturalNews, we've been publicly predicting the fall of Western Medicine for nearly five years. During that time, we've also covered the increasingly precarious financial situation, warning readers in 2005 and 2006 about the impending housing bubble crash and the implications for the entire financial system.
In covering these two topics (western medicine and western finance), I've come to recognize many strong parallels between the two. This article explores the common threads of deception that characterize these two powerful institutions.
#1 They're both based on fraud and deception
Both Western Finance and Western Medicine are fundamentally based on fraud. The fraud of Western Finance is that you can create money from nothing and everybody can get rich by selling each other fictitious financial instruments that have no connection to reality. The fraud of Western Medicine is that everybody can get healthy by taking fictitious patented chemicals (pharmaceuticals) rather than addressing fundamental issues of nutrition, exercise and exposure to consumer chemicals.Western Finance's fraud is committed by high-brow academics who contrive complicated derivative financial instruments that are then presented to the investment community as things of real value (which they are not). Western Medicine's fraud is committed by high-ego medical researchers who selectively massage clinical trial data to create fictitious "scientific" results that are then presented to the FDA as fact. The FDA then "approves" such drugs which are sold to the public as medicines that treat "disease" (which are also fictitious, by the way; being voted into existence by a panel of experts who benefit from such disease definitions).
Both the financial instruments and FDA-approved medications are fraudulent to begin with, and they offer nothing of real, lasting value to anyone. They're both sold simply for momentary profits, without any regard for the health or the wealth of the People.
#2 When problems arise, they both treat symptoms rather than solving the causes
The $700 billion financial bailout created in Washington is a classic example of Western Medicine's "treat the symptoms" mentality. Rather than address the root cause of the problem (the Fed's control over the money supply and the very structure of fractional-reserve banking), politicians seem satisfied to rig up a series of financial bandages that allow them to pretend the problem has been solved.In Western Medicine, this "treat the symptoms" approach is the de facto treatment philosophy taught in medical school: Ignore the real cause, don't bother educating patients about diet or exercise, and simply prescribe pharmaceuticals to mask the problem for as long as possible.
In both cases, the patient inevitably gets sicker: The financial situation festers and grows like an unchecked cancer tumor, and while stop-gap measures can create the illusion of a healthy patient, these actions inevitably contribute to far greater crisis down the road, where the patient eventually crashes and dies.
The financial sickness now infecting banks, lenders and insurance companies across the globe is an unchecked pandemic of infectious debt. But rather than addressing the cause of the infections, the financial industry seems satisfied to refinance the disease carriers so they can rise up, coughing and sputtering as they pass along the disease to anyone within breathing distance.
#3 They both enrich powerful corporations while impoverishing the People
The key agenda of both the financial and health industries is to enrich wealthy corporations at the expense of the public. In Western Finance, this is being done by privatizing the financial gains while socializing the financial losses. In other words, all the profits go to the wealthy elite while all the losses are passed along to taxpayers (this is the fundamental point of the $700 billion bailout, of course).In Western Medicine, virtually every regulatory policy in effect today is constructed to enrich corporations. The FDA's censorship of true health claims on nutritional supplements, the FTC's crackdown on anti-cancer herbal remedies, the DEA's raids on medical marijuana... these campaigns are all conducted solely to protect the profits of the pharmaceutical companies at the expense of public health.
Think about it: Monopoly pricing on pharmaceuticals sold in the USA is enforced by the FDA and FTC. Approvals of drugs based on outright fraudulent science is openly granted by the FDA. Raids against vitamin companies, supplement companies and natural product retailers are organized and conducted by both the FTC and FDA, two regulatory bodies that engage in outright extortion, threatening natural health companies with bankruptcy and criminal charges if they don't pay outrageous fines based on fabricated accusations of things like "linking to a scientific journal from your website" (which is now a crime in the U.S. if you sell nutritional products).
These are all the actions of governmental tyrants who act solely as Big Business street thugs, wiping out the competition to protect the profits of their (mob) bosses.
#4 They're both based on arrogance and the worship of money
Arrogance runs high in Western Medicine, where clever men at the top of the pharmaceutical companies think they've outsmarted mother nature by brainwashing consumers into thinking the human body is born with deficiencies of patented synthetic chemicals. This same arrogance is woven directly into the fabric of Wall Street, where greed-based financial players convince themselves they're so brilliant that the mere idea of how to make money is now recorded as a bankable asset on the balance sheets (that's the Enron style of accounting, which has now infected all of Wall Street).The arrogance in both these industries is astounding. Neither Western Finance nor Western Medicine believes there is such a thing as a reality that shall ever hold them accountable. They don't believe in gold, or real food, or cause and effect. Things are things because they say they are, and nothing is subject to economic reality, scientific scrutiny or real-world common sense.
These two industries have been living in the Twilight Zone for so long, they've completely lost touch with reality. In fact, they no longer have any familiarity with reality. Doctors, for example, have no knowledge of nutrition or superfoods. They are nutritionally illiterate the day they graduate from medical school. Similarly, bankers are almost universally ignorant of the basic laws of economics. Few understand how fractional-reserve banking really works, nor do they grasp the correlations between increases in the money supply and inflation.
Bankers and doctors, it could be accurately stated, have almost no knowledge about the very things over which they have been granted authority.
(For the record, yes I know there are many exceptions to this. Lots of well-educated bankers and doctors break out of the box of ignorance by learning, on their own, those things not taught to them in the land of academia.)
#5 They both seek instant profits at the expense of future generations
Western financial institutions are famous for their focus on the next fiscal quarter. If it doesn't create a profit in the next 90 days, it's not considered a worthwhile investment. This "instant profit" mentality inevitably leads to an abandonment of virtues like saving money or honoring future generations. Instead of leaving our children with equity, the United States of America (and its financial co-conspirators) have burdened future generations with an impossible debt burden.Pharmaceutical companies think much the same way. Rather than uplifting the health of the nation with sound prenatal nutrition policies (and infant health programs based on disease prevention), it seeks to vaccinate and medicate every living being with a never-ending parade of high-profit pharmaceuticals... from birth to death. There is no attention paid to the environmental effects of flushing all those drugs down the drain (pharmaceuticals are now found in the drinking water of over 50 American cities), nor is there any attempt to actually prevent cancer (or other diseases) in any way whatsoever.
Instead, Western Medicine prefers to wait until people get sick so it can cash in on their disease. Similarly, Western Finance prefers to hide its problems, expanding its debt base until it gets too big to fail, at which point someone has to come along and bail it out.
Neither industry operates with any degree of accountability.
#6 Both are run by unindicted criminals
If I break into your house and steal your wallet, I would be considered a criminal. But when Congress breaks into your finances and steals your life savings, they consider themselves to be heroes!Make no mistake: Both the Western Finance and Western Medical industries are run by unindicted criminals who steal, lie, and deceive their way to the greatest profits possible. Drug companies routinely bury studies they don't want you to see, and FDA leaders routinely stack their decision boards with "experts" who maintain direct financial ties to the companies selling the pharmaceuticals they're voting to approve.
Meanwhile, top bankers are shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars in favors to Washington politicians in order to avoid any reduction in their multi-million dollar salaries, even while the financial institutions they led are about to be bailed out by taxpayer money. What all this has in common is that the top CEOs, politicians and regulatory decision makers are unindicted criminals who are guilty of various crimes against the People: Theft, conspiracy, racketeering and much more.
If these people were held up to the same laws applied to you and me, they'd all be arrested and spend their lives in prison (or worse).
#7 Both are doomed to collapse
The final parallel between Western Finance and Western Medicine? They're both doomed to collapse.That very idea was considered absolutely loony just 30 days ago. But I've stuck to this prediction for five years: Western medicine is doomed to collapse. And now, all of a sudden, more people are waking up and seeing their fictional world crumbling around them. The near-collapse of the global financial system, it seems, has rudely awakened a few people who were sleepwalking through life, intoxicated by visions of free riches, free pharmaceuticals and life in the land of zero accountability.
Reality, though, is a stubborn thing. You can daydream all you want, but the laws of economics cannot be violated any more so than the laws of human physiology. When there's a poison in the system (biologically or financially speaking), something must be done to eliminate the poison and bolster the health of the patient. Sadly, Washington remains in the business of denying the problem, which makes it all the more difficult to try to solve it.
Interestingly, the collapse of Western Finance is inevitably linked to the collapse of Western Medicine. How so? Because Big Pharma is almost entirely dependent on the government to protect and feed itself. Without Big Government creating an artificial monopoly market where competing natural products are censored or outlawed, Big Pharma could not compete!
Nobody would buy arthritis drugs if they knew cherry extracts or potent fish oils could solve the problem more safely and affordably. No one would buy high-profit cholesterol drugs if they learned the truth about red yeast rice, aged garlic or policosanol.
Big Pharma is entirely dependent on the government to prop up its business, and when the U.S. government goes operationally bankrupt (which is coming), Big Pharma may suddenly find itself competing in a free marketplace where it no longer has the tools of oppression, censorship and tyranny to bludgeon the competition into irrelevancy. When Big Government goes, Big Pharma will follow, and the collapse of Western Finance is thus a precursor to the collapse of Western Medicine.
Both institutions, of course, will attempt to claw their way back to power, even as they are crumbling. They won't go without a fight, and they may be able to put in place clever tactics that delay their demise by years. But in the end, no nation has a future when its finance -- and its medicine -- are based on fraud.
Think about that. It's a powerful realization. The U.S. simply cannot continue the way it's running today. With 50% of the population on pharmaceuticals, and children being drugged with Speed (ADHD drugs), and mandatory vaccines poisoning (and killing) young girls, there is no future unless something changes.
With junk foods and energy drinks intoxicating our youth, and dangerous chemicals running rampant through the personal care product industry, and foods being irradiated to destroy their nutritional content, there is no future.
With banks stealing money from the working taxpayers, and $10 trillion national debt knocking on our door, and the government taking ownership of more than 50% of the national economy, there is no future!
The real world will be a shock to many
The end of these systems is now in sight. They are crumbling under their own arrogance and stupidity, revealing a society based on self-righteous deception and global scandal. Everything we thought was real turns out to be fabricated: The money, the medicine, the economy, the law... it's all being revealed for what it is: A Matrix of enslavement, designed to keep the People believing they live in a free society, even as their health and wealth are stolen from them by the sinister few who wield political power.Western Finance will fall, and Western Medicine will soon end its reign of terror over the people. We will live to see the end of the FDA as we know it; the end of the AMA, the cancer industry and the dominance of the drug companies. We may lose our savings and we may even lose our nation, but we will not lose the one thing that matters most in this cold, dark universe: Our sense of connection with life, nature and each other.
Because when all the fictions fall apart, and the facade of the American Empire crumbles like the twin towers on 9/11, when it's all said and done, we still have one thing we can count on: Mother Nature.
Nature will still be there. The trees, the gardens, the herbs... these things are real. The water, the oceans, the honeybees... these are the things that bring us real wealth.
Wealth is not a collection of digits in a computer. It isn't a promise printed on green paper money. Real wealth is a garden that feeds you, a river that hydrates you, and a system of medicine that nourishes and supports you. Real wealth is a day with sunshine, a night under the stars and a life lived with purpose.
Real wealth is not fleeting, nor subject to cascading collapse. It is as real as the morning dew on a cabbage plant, or the sweet taste of fresh blueberry juice, or the buzz of ten thousand honeybees pollinating an orchard.
These are the things Western society has forgotten, and in that forgetfulness, it has suffered a dangerous, multi-generational amnesia ... a disease of delusion, if you will, that is about to collide head-on with reality.
The awakening will be rude. Some will embrace reality and thrive in the Next Society. Others will deny reality and suffer.
As we watch all of this unfold, I invite you to join me in the real world; to eat real food, to experience real (natural) medicine and to make real, lasting contributions to the future of life on Earth. As fictional constructs fall to the ground around us, we are all being granted front-row seats to one of the most amazing transformations in the history of life on Earth: We are about to watch one civilization end, and another civilization emerge from the ruin.
We are, indeed, watching history unfold before our eyes. And you know what? We are all fortunate enough to participate in it! Don't miss this. Stay confident. Help those you can, and prepare yourself for the transition. The next few years are going to be the most interesting we'll see in our lifetimes.
Stay informed about more financial news by joining my Mindful Wealth Email List (free):
http://www.naturalnews.com/MindfulWealt...
Technical comments: While the outcome of Western Finance and Western Medicine are not in doubt, the timing of their demise is uncertain. The financial system could break and collapse in weeks, or it could possibly limp along in a severe recession for decades (a la Japan, circa 1989), depending on the actions of foreign central banks and the Federal Reserve.
Western Medicine will likely take many years to unravel and be replaced by a new system based on reality. But a collapse of the U.S. government would accelerate that shift by taking the FDA out of the equation. Without the FDA to enforce Big Pharma's monopolistic, racketeering practices, natural products would quickly take over the free market and Big Pharma would quickly shrink. Remember this: FDA employees are only one paycheck away from complete disloyalty. The entire U.S. government is held together by a long supply line of fragile paychecks. The whole system could unravel in less than 30 days if foreign nations stop buying U.S. debt.
Friday, September 26, 2008
http://3rdbigbusinesscrimes.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-day-for-health-in-south-africa.html
MORE ON THE ASTONISHING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE COMBINED PSYCHIATRY-BIG PHARMA PROPAGANDA AND ZIONIST PROPAGANDA
by Benjamin Merhav
In my previous blog for the outlaw of psychiatry I posted my article which exposes the similarities between psychiatry and zionism : http://7thoutlawpsychiatry.blogspot.com/2008/01/more-on-similarities-between_30.html
Now, with the official prosecution and persecution of Dr. Matthias Rath's voluntary efforts to save the lives of AIDS victims in South Africa, we can see zionist fingerprints in the Big Pharma campaign against Dr. Rath too, as the second article below reveals. Thus, for example, Big Pharma's campaigners use a typically zionist propaganda idiom : "denialism". As everybody knows the zionist propaganda attacks have got 2 weapons against the critics of zionism : "antisemitism" and "denialism (of the Holocaust)". Both are designed to distract people from the truth, namely, that the zionist hierarchy is not onlly racist against non Jews, but also against all people of jewish background who are opposed to racism and to fascism.
Also the very methods used by Big Pharma's stooges in South Africa, namely, lies and bully tactics, are typically zionist propaganda methods, as anyone familiar with the methods used by the zionist lobby in Washngton, would know.
Below are two articles, the first (with the poster), downloaded from the website of Dr. Matthias Rath's foundation, reveals the truth. The second article, attacks and maligns not only Dr. Rath but also the Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, the former Minister for Health in South Africa, who supported Dr. Rath's initiatives to help AIDS victims there.
http://www.end-aids-business.org/
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/nat_vit/index.html
The links on this page access the results of a nutrient community health program in people living with AIDS in South Africa. The program was organized and conducted by the South African National Civic Organization (SANCO) and the micronutrients used were provided to SANCO free of charge by the Dr. Rath Health Foundation. The micronutrients donated in this program have never been sold within South Africa or anywhere else in the world.
This community health program consisted of the voluntary participation of members of poor South African communities affected by AIDS. They received the micronutrients from local SANCO community members free of charge and without any instructions to alter medications or lifestyles.
The only feedback provided by the participants in this program was the completion of questionnaires about their wellbeing at the beginning of the program and at regular intervals thereafter. The most important results of the evaluation of these questionnaires are published on this website.
This nutrient community health program was the largest program of its kind ever carried out since the AIDS epidemic began. The results from the program show that micronutrients can improve the symptoms of immune deficiencies – including those characterized by the WHO as AIDS-defining – as assessed by the questionnaires.
The collection of these important data was done against the fierce opposition of organizations in South Africa dedicated to the promotion of anti-retroviral drugs as the primary answer to the AIDS epidemic. In December 2005, two of these organizations, the South African Medical Organization (SAMA) and the so called Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) filed a complaint in the South African courts, trying to obstruct this program by characterizing: (a) the micronutrients as "illegal drugs;" (b) the SANCO community centres as illegal clinics and (c) the nutrient community health program as an "illegal study."
While the leadership of SAMA has been historically close to pharmaceutical interests, the TAC is an organization that "organizes rented crowds for the drug industry" to "force the government to spend millions of Rand on toxic drugs." *
In June 2008 the court in Cape Town ruled that no unregistered drugs should be used and no illegal clinical studies be conducted. By using this careful phrasing, the court avoided stopping this nutrient community health program.
While the ruling is being appealed from both sides, we decided to publish the results collected so far in this important community health program for the benefit of:
(a) The people of South Africa affected by AIDS
(b) Governments of the world desperately trying to find solutions to help control this pandemic
(c) Scientists, doctors and other health professionals to launch a worldwide effort in the area of medicine and health, to confirm the importance of vitamins and other micronutrients in the fight against immune deficiencies and AIDS.
While micronutrients are no "cure" for AIDS, they are an important answer to immune deficiencies caused by malnutrition. In light of the deadlock of ARV research – most recently exemplified by the discontinuation of its entire ARV research by Roche, one of the world's largest ARV manufacturers – micronutrients allow the research community to gain time until a cure or vaccine for AIDS can be found.
We are also confident that every step the ARV lobbyists undertake to block this information will ultimately contribute to the worldwide acceptance of this breakthrough in the global battle against immune deficiencies and AIDS.
MORE ON THE ASTONISHING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE COMBINED PSYCHIATRY-BIG PHARMA PROPAGANDA AND ZIONIST PROPAGANDA
by Benjamin Merhav
In my previous blog for the outlaw of psychiatry I posted my article which exposes the similarities between psychiatry and zionism : http://7thoutlawpsychiatry.blogspot.com/2008/01/more-on-similarities-between_30.html
Now, with the official prosecution and persecution of Dr. Matthias Rath's voluntary efforts to save the lives of AIDS victims in South Africa, we can see zionist fingerprints in the Big Pharma campaign against Dr. Rath too, as the second article below reveals. Thus, for example, Big Pharma's campaigners use a typically zionist propaganda idiom : "denialism". As everybody knows the zionist propaganda attacks have got 2 weapons against the critics of zionism : "antisemitism" and "denialism (of the Holocaust)". Both are designed to distract people from the truth, namely, that the zionist hierarchy is not onlly racist against non Jews, but also against all people of jewish background who are opposed to racism and to fascism.
Also the very methods used by Big Pharma's stooges in South Africa, namely, lies and bully tactics, are typically zionist propaganda methods, as anyone familiar with the methods used by the zionist lobby in Washngton, would know.
Below are two articles, the first (with the poster), downloaded from the website of Dr. Matthias Rath's foundation, reveals the truth. The second article, attacks and maligns not only Dr. Rath but also the Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, the former Minister for Health in South Africa, who supported Dr. Rath's initiatives to help AIDS victims there.
http://www.end-aids-business.org/
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/nat_vit/index.html
Results of a Nutrient Community Health Program in People Affected by AIDS in South Africa
The links on this page access the results of a nutrient community health program in people living with AIDS in South Africa. The program was organized and conducted by the South African National Civic Organization (SANCO) and the micronutrients used were provided to SANCO free of charge by the Dr. Rath Health Foundation. The micronutrients donated in this program have never been sold within South Africa or anywhere else in the world.
This community health program consisted of the voluntary participation of members of poor South African communities affected by AIDS. They received the micronutrients from local SANCO community members free of charge and without any instructions to alter medications or lifestyles.
The only feedback provided by the participants in this program was the completion of questionnaires about their wellbeing at the beginning of the program and at regular intervals thereafter. The most important results of the evaluation of these questionnaires are published on this website.
This nutrient community health program was the largest program of its kind ever carried out since the AIDS epidemic began. The results from the program show that micronutrients can improve the symptoms of immune deficiencies – including those characterized by the WHO as AIDS-defining – as assessed by the questionnaires.
The Solid Scientific Rationale
The scientific rationale for the use of vitamins and other micronutrients in supporting immune function is not new. Over the past century, no less than nine Nobel Prizes have been awarded to vitamin research, the majority in relation to the importance to their essential role in optimizing immune response.The collection of these important data was done against the fierce opposition of organizations in South Africa dedicated to the promotion of anti-retroviral drugs as the primary answer to the AIDS epidemic. In December 2005, two of these organizations, the South African Medical Organization (SAMA) and the so called Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) filed a complaint in the South African courts, trying to obstruct this program by characterizing: (a) the micronutrients as "illegal drugs;" (b) the SANCO community centres as illegal clinics and (c) the nutrient community health program as an "illegal study."
While the leadership of SAMA has been historically close to pharmaceutical interests, the TAC is an organization that "organizes rented crowds for the drug industry" to "force the government to spend millions of Rand on toxic drugs." *
In June 2008 the court in Cape Town ruled that no unregistered drugs should be used and no illegal clinical studies be conducted. By using this careful phrasing, the court avoided stopping this nutrient community health program.
While the ruling is being appealed from both sides, we decided to publish the results collected so far in this important community health program for the benefit of:
(a) The people of South Africa affected by AIDS
(b) Governments of the world desperately trying to find solutions to help control this pandemic
(c) Scientists, doctors and other health professionals to launch a worldwide effort in the area of medicine and health, to confirm the importance of vitamins and other micronutrients in the fight against immune deficiencies and AIDS.
While micronutrients are no "cure" for AIDS, they are an important answer to immune deficiencies caused by malnutrition. In light of the deadlock of ARV research – most recently exemplified by the discontinuation of its entire ARV research by Roche, one of the world's largest ARV manufacturers – micronutrients allow the research community to gain time until a cure or vaccine for AIDS can be found.
A Service to All Mankind
With the support of this nutrient community health program and the publication of these results, we provided a service to all mankind:- This nutrient community health program is the largest program of its kind documenting the benefits of micronutrients for people affected by AIDS
- Never before has the possibility of halting and, in many cases reversing, the symptoms of AIDS as assessed by the patients themselves been documented in a larger number of people
- No study with ARV drugs has ever been published showing similar outcomes and improvements in the wellbeing of people affected by AIDS.
We are also confident that every step the ARV lobbyists undertake to block this information will ultimately contribute to the worldwide acceptance of this breakthrough in the global battle against immune deficiencies and AIDS.
* These two statements, characterizing the activities of the TAC, were found non-objectionable by the same Cape Town court in a previous case.
============================
A new day for health in South Africa: Manto is replaced as health minister by TAC supporter
by Theo Smart
| September 26, 2008 |
Activists and health workers in South Africa celebrated outside the Cape Town parliament building last night after the news that Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been replaced as South Africa’s Minister of Health by Barbara Hogan, one of the few African National Congress (ANC) Members of Parliament who spoke out openly against AIDS denialism in former president Thabo Mbeki’s government.
Barbara Hogan supported the Treatment Action Campaign’s (TAC) early efforts to get the government to provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the public health system.
In addition, Dr Molefi Sefularo was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Health. As MEC of the Northwest Province, Dr Sefularo supported the roll-out of PMTCT and ART and helped write the National HIV and AIDS and STI Strategic Plan for South Africa, 2007-2011.
“We believe that the period of politically supported AIDS denialism has ended with the appointment of the Minister of Health,” a TAC press release declared.
The change of government in South Africa
The cabinet changes were announced yesterday, after the newly appointed South African President Kgalema Motlanthe was sworn in to replace Thabo Mbeki ,who was recalled by the ANC last weekend after a prolonged power struggle with ANC party President, and former Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
President Motlanthe, is a well-respected veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle who until recently has kept out of the spot light. Seen as belonging to neither camp within the divided ANC, he was selected as a consensus candidate to lead the country, at least until elections next year, when Zuma is expected to run for President.
Already being seen as a bridge builder, President Motlanthe appointed a mix of Zuma and Mbeki supporters into government, as well as other respected politicians who have remained above the fray. Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, a staunch Mbeki ally, will actually remain in government, occupying President Motlanthe’s former position as Minister in the Presidency. Though this is something of a promotion, it may not be a long-lasting one.
What is important is that Dr Tshabalala-Msimang has effectively been transitioned out of the Health Department.
The inglorious career of Dr Tshabalala-Msimang
During Dr Tshabalala-Msimang’s tenure as Minister of Health over two million South Africans died of HIV.
Sometimes called Dr Beetroot, for promoting a diet of beets, African potatoes, garlic and lemon as a remedy for people with HIV, she initially resisted the roll-out of treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and of ART in the country. Instead, she supported the right of AIDS denialists such as Dr Matthias Rath’s to sell high-dose vitamin ‘cures’ without scientific evidence of benefit.
Even after the government moved to begin introducing appropriate HIV care through the public sector (partly as the result of legal action by the AIDS Law Project and TAC), she has been accused of trying to stall it.
South Africa’s current HIV programme got underway in earnest while she was on a leave of absence to have a liver transplant. It was during this period, while the Deputy Minister of Health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was in charge of the Department, that the National Strategic Plan was drafted. When the Minister came back to duty, they are reported to have clashed, and Dr Tshabalala-Msimang declined to deliver an invited address at a national AIDS conference because she reportedly felt that the Deputy Minister had a more prominent position in the conference programme. Shortly afterward, Mbeki fired the Deputy Minister. Yesterday, however, in an interesting turn of fortune, Madlala-Routledge was elected the new Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.
Infighting within the department has been typical of the former administration’s management style and there are many reports that morale in the department of health is extremely low.
Treatment activists have long called for the Minister’s removal. At the first South African TB conference in July this year, activists conducted a silent protest during a plenary talk by Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, holding up signs saying that “South Africa needs real leadership in the fight against TB and HIV.”
The new Minister
Minister Hogan does not come from a health background. She too is a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, joining the ANC after the 1976 riots. She was arrested for treason by the apartheid government, tortured and imprisoned for eight years (with one year in solitary confinement).
Since release, she has been deeply involved in the ANC, and served for a time in Mbeki’s government as Finance Portfolio Chairperson, until she was dismissed by Mbeki in part for her stand on HIV/AIDS (according to the TAC press release).
But she has continued to play a role in the fight against HIV, serving on the board of the Amandla AIDS Fund (AAF) established in 2003 with a $2.5 million donation from Carlos and Deborah Santana. AAF provides ART, care, treatment and prevention services to people and children with HIV. Serving with her on the board are Archbishop Desmond Tutu, TAC’s Zachie Achmat and Luyanda Ngonyama, Head of the AIDS Law Project Mark Heywood, Dr Jerry Coovadia, and Dr Fareed Abdullah.
In an interview with News24.com, she said the biggest challenge for the Department of Health “is HIV/AIDS and all the strains that it places on the health system. I would thoroughly endorse the roll-out of antiretrovirals and any way we can accelerate that, the better.”
Minister Hogan said she welcome’s the opportunity to work with TAC. “I'm not saying we will always agree but I've always had a good relationship with the TAC and NGOs involved in that sector and I think you need to mobilise every possible sector of society at the moment, from the private sector to the NGO sector to the government sector, to improve our health services.”
TAC joyous
For their part, TAC is clearly eager to work with Minister Hogan. In fact, about 50 of the activists serenaded her outside her flat in Cape Town’s City Bowl last night.
According to an report in the Star, she came down to greet the activists. Fatima Hassan of the AIDS Law Project hugged her and announced that it was “the happiest day of her life.” (Also see this report).
But TAC acknowledges there will be tremendous challenges ahead.
“Hogan's biggest challenges will be to meet the treatment and prevention targets of the HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan, integrate TB and HIV treatment, develop a feasible human resources plan for health workers and undo the considerable legacy of AIDS denialism left by her predecessor. The TAC will do all that it can to assist her and the Department of Health to meet these challenges.”
Barbara Hogan supported the Treatment Action Campaign’s (TAC) early efforts to get the government to provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the public health system.
In addition, Dr Molefi Sefularo was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Health. As MEC of the Northwest Province, Dr Sefularo supported the roll-out of PMTCT and ART and helped write the National HIV and AIDS and STI Strategic Plan for South Africa, 2007-2011.
“We believe that the period of politically supported AIDS denialism has ended with the appointment of the Minister of Health,” a TAC press release declared.
The change of government in South Africa
The cabinet changes were announced yesterday, after the newly appointed South African President Kgalema Motlanthe was sworn in to replace Thabo Mbeki ,who was recalled by the ANC last weekend after a prolonged power struggle with ANC party President, and former Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
President Motlanthe, is a well-respected veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle who until recently has kept out of the spot light. Seen as belonging to neither camp within the divided ANC, he was selected as a consensus candidate to lead the country, at least until elections next year, when Zuma is expected to run for President.
Already being seen as a bridge builder, President Motlanthe appointed a mix of Zuma and Mbeki supporters into government, as well as other respected politicians who have remained above the fray. Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, a staunch Mbeki ally, will actually remain in government, occupying President Motlanthe’s former position as Minister in the Presidency. Though this is something of a promotion, it may not be a long-lasting one.
What is important is that Dr Tshabalala-Msimang has effectively been transitioned out of the Health Department.
The inglorious career of Dr Tshabalala-Msimang
During Dr Tshabalala-Msimang’s tenure as Minister of Health over two million South Africans died of HIV.
Sometimes called Dr Beetroot, for promoting a diet of beets, African potatoes, garlic and lemon as a remedy for people with HIV, she initially resisted the roll-out of treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and of ART in the country. Instead, she supported the right of AIDS denialists such as Dr Matthias Rath’s to sell high-dose vitamin ‘cures’ without scientific evidence of benefit.
Even after the government moved to begin introducing appropriate HIV care through the public sector (partly as the result of legal action by the AIDS Law Project and TAC), she has been accused of trying to stall it.
South Africa’s current HIV programme got underway in earnest while she was on a leave of absence to have a liver transplant. It was during this period, while the Deputy Minister of Health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was in charge of the Department, that the National Strategic Plan was drafted. When the Minister came back to duty, they are reported to have clashed, and Dr Tshabalala-Msimang declined to deliver an invited address at a national AIDS conference because she reportedly felt that the Deputy Minister had a more prominent position in the conference programme. Shortly afterward, Mbeki fired the Deputy Minister. Yesterday, however, in an interesting turn of fortune, Madlala-Routledge was elected the new Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.
Infighting within the department has been typical of the former administration’s management style and there are many reports that morale in the department of health is extremely low.
Treatment activists have long called for the Minister’s removal. At the first South African TB conference in July this year, activists conducted a silent protest during a plenary talk by Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, holding up signs saying that “South Africa needs real leadership in the fight against TB and HIV.”
The new Minister
Minister Hogan does not come from a health background. She too is a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, joining the ANC after the 1976 riots. She was arrested for treason by the apartheid government, tortured and imprisoned for eight years (with one year in solitary confinement).
Since release, she has been deeply involved in the ANC, and served for a time in Mbeki’s government as Finance Portfolio Chairperson, until she was dismissed by Mbeki in part for her stand on HIV/AIDS (according to the TAC press release).
But she has continued to play a role in the fight against HIV, serving on the board of the Amandla AIDS Fund (AAF) established in 2003 with a $2.5 million donation from Carlos and Deborah Santana. AAF provides ART, care, treatment and prevention services to people and children with HIV. Serving with her on the board are Archbishop Desmond Tutu, TAC’s Zachie Achmat and Luyanda Ngonyama, Head of the AIDS Law Project Mark Heywood, Dr Jerry Coovadia, and Dr Fareed Abdullah.
In an interview with News24.com, she said the biggest challenge for the Department of Health “is HIV/AIDS and all the strains that it places on the health system. I would thoroughly endorse the roll-out of antiretrovirals and any way we can accelerate that, the better.”
Minister Hogan said she welcome’s the opportunity to work with TAC. “I'm not saying we will always agree but I've always had a good relationship with the TAC and NGOs involved in that sector and I think you need to mobilise every possible sector of society at the moment, from the private sector to the NGO sector to the government sector, to improve our health services.”
TAC joyous
For their part, TAC is clearly eager to work with Minister Hogan. In fact, about 50 of the activists serenaded her outside her flat in Cape Town’s City Bowl last night.
According to an report in the Star, she came down to greet the activists. Fatima Hassan of the AIDS Law Project hugged her and announced that it was “the happiest day of her life.” (Also see this report).
But TAC acknowledges there will be tremendous challenges ahead.
“Hogan's biggest challenges will be to meet the treatment and prevention targets of the HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan, integrate TB and HIV treatment, develop a feasible human resources plan for health workers and undo the considerable legacy of AIDS denialism left by her predecessor. The TAC will do all that it can to assist her and the Department of Health to meet these challenges.”
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