Timeline: HIV/Aids in South Africa 2006-2009
- 2006
- UNAids says more than 25 million people have now been killed by Aids. But it revises downwards to 38.6 million the total living today with HIV/Aids and suggests that, except in some countries, the overall infection rate has now stabilised.
- UN General Assembly holds special session to assess progress since 2001 Declaration of Commitment.
- The first one-a-day pill for effectively treating HIV infection was approved for sale in the USA.
- March, The final results of the 3 by 5 initiative are revealed. By the end of 2005, only around 1.3 million people in low- and middle-income countries had been receiving antiretroviral treatment – less than half of the 3 million target. Though this result was highly disappointing, the WHO stressed that it still represented a more than three-fold increase within two years. Of the 152 countries involved in the initiative, only 18 met the target of 50% treatment coverage. Among the worst performers were Russia and India, and among the best was Botswana, where coverage had reached around 85%.
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Controversial cartoon or Jacob Zuma which appeared in the Sunday Times, by Zapiro, arguably South Africa’s most prolific, outspoken, best-known and much-awarded cartoonist) Read Guardian article ‘The Price of Free Speech’ about these cartoons. April, While on trial on a rape charge Jacob Zuma makes his infamous comment about ‘taking a shower straight after sex with his HIV-positive rape accuser as a way of reducing his chances of contracting the virus’. This caused a national and international outcry.
- June, The Gates Foundation – the world’s largest private source of funding for HIV and AIDS – receives a substantial boost to its finances, when billionaire Warren Buffet promised to donate $31 billion over ten years. Bill Gates announces that he is stepping down as head of Microsoft to concentrate on the work of the Foundation.
- August, The XVI International AIDS Conference is held in Toronto. One major talking point is how to accelerate the expansion of antiretroviral therapy worldwide and in particular how to alleviate dire shortages of healthcare workers in the neediest countries. The conference provided a platform for critics of the South African government’s response to AIDS. Activists protested at the country’s exhibition stand, which was dominated by unproven nutritional remedies, with almost no reference to effective medication. Conference co-chair Mark Wainberg said it was “unconscionable” that South Africa’s leaders would not talk openly about AIDS.
- Shortly after the conference, more than 80 prominent international scientists write an open letter to South African President Thabo Mbeki calling on him to sack health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, whom they blame for “disastrous, pseudo-scientific policies” on HIV/AIDS. Instead, the South African government sets up a new inter-ministerial committee to take charge of the national AIDS response, to be headed by the deputy president.
- December, South Africa’s deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge decides to speak out against her own government, admitting a “denial at the very highest level” over the country’s AIDS crisis.
- US National Institutes of Health reveals the results of two African trials of male circumcision as an HIV prevention method. The studies were halted early for ethical reasons.
- 2007
- January, Dramatic announcement by President Jammeh of The Gambia that he had found a cure for AIDS. Soon revealed to be unfounded.
- March, South African Government and representatives of labour, civil society and the private sector, through SANAC, finalised a new Strategic Plan for HIV and AIDS and STIs in South Africa, for 2007 to 2011. Headed up by the deputy president, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and the deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, the plan aimed to try and reduce the number of new infections by fifty percent, and bring treatment care and support to at least eighty percent of all HIV-positive people and their families. The new plan was welcomed by national and international health experts, although it was made clear that in order for the new goals to be realised there needed to be a fast track restructuring of the health care system.
- First publication made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) regarding recommendations on circumcision and HIV. The guidance came three months after trials in Uganda and Kenya provided conclusive evidence that circumcision reduces the risk of transmission from women to men by around 50-60%.
- July, Reports made of counterfeit antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) flooding the market in Zimbabwe, potentially putting many lives at risk.
- August, Optimism regarding South Africa’s response to the AIDS crisis is short lived after as Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge is fired. The official reason for Madlala-Routledge’s dismissal was cited as her inappropriate labeling of infant deaths at Frere Hospital as ‘a national emergency’ and accusations of her attendance at an AIDS conference in Spain without the President’s permission. But it was felt that the underlying motive for her dismissal was her ongoing conflict with Tshabalala-Msimang, the Health Minister, and in particular their contrasting opinions on how to confront AIDS. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, whose reluctance to embrace lifesaving AIDS drugs had by this stage provoked international rebuke and the derisive nickname Dr. No.
- October, It is revealed that hundreds of South Africans who had been involved in an AIDS vaccine trial might have an increased risk of HIV infection as a result.
- 2008
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UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe, left, reacts with South Africa's health minister Barbara Hogan, right, in Khayelitsha Township, South Africa, February 2009. - A controversial Swiss study claims people adhering to ARVs have a "negligibly small" risk of transmitting HIV through unprotected sex.
- June, A team of scientists in South Africa were tried and found guilty by a South African court for conducting unauthorised medical trials and selling unregistered vitamin supplements as a treatment for AIDS. One of the supervisors of the illegal trials, Matthias Rath, was already widely criticised for his promotion of vitamins as a substitute for antiretroviral drugs. The South African court halted the medical trials and banned Rath from advertising his natural AIDS remedies. It also highlighted the responsibility of the South African government and its failure in not preventing Rath from distributing his products.
- July, The American PEPFAR funding program was renewed on 30th July, committing $48 billion to HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis for fiscal years 2009-2013.
- September, Thabo Mbeki resigns as South African President and his successor, Kgalema Motlanthe, appoints Barbara Hogan as Minister of Health. She immediately committed government to a concerted and decisive response to the epidemic.
- November, Barack Obama is elected President of the United States of America. Obama pledged that he would substantially increase funding to both PEPFAR and the Global Fund. However, commentators have questioned the likelihood of this pledge being followed through in the context of the unfolding international financial crisis.
