Mbeki's genocidal decision on HIV meds

BBC:

A prominent South African Aids activist has told the BBC former President Thabo Mbeki should be called to account for his decision to block HIV medication.

A recent Harvard School of Public Health study said 330,000 deaths were caused by his 1999 decision to declare available drugs toxic and dangerous.

Zackie Achmat said Mr Mbeki had ignored the scientific evidence.

...

The study, published on 20 October, said that as a result of Mr Mbeki's policies, nearly 35,000 babies were also born HIV-positive between 2000 and 2005.

The former president had failed to roll out the drugs which could have prevented mother-to-child transmission, said the researchers.

The study, led by Dr Pride Chigwedere, accused the South African government of "acting as a major obstacle in the provision of medication to patients with Aids".

The authors said that under the leadership of Mr Mbeki, the government had restricted use of donated anti-retroviral drugs and blocked funds for more than a year from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

...

This goes beyond incompetence in governance. This inhumane refusal to treat the ill explains in part Mbeki's indifference to Mugabe's genocide in Zimbabwe. Whether you use passive aggressive means or direct means the people are just as dead.