AIDS Disease in South Africa, Research Paper Example

South Africa is one of the worst places in the world to be diagnosed with AIDS and receive the proper health care.  Political and medicinal problems in the country provide very little evidence that the epidemic will actually decrease in the near future.  It currently is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of South Africans every year and according to the President of South Africa the disease is literally “decimating the country” (York, 2009, par. 9).  This article, written by South African media correspondent Geoffrey York, analyzes the negative impact that AIDS and HIV infections have brought upon the country and what current president Jacob Zuma is doing to provide government and medical support for the infected citizens of his country.  The legitimacy and unbiased reporting of York provides multiple claims about the treatment of AIDS in South Africa and the international exposure that the South African government is receiving for a new program to increase AIDS testing and provide effective treatment methods for the citizens of the country.

First of all, Geoffrey York has spent the last twenty years of his career working as a South African media correspondent for multiple publications.  Today, he works as the correspondent for Canadian-based online publication The Globe and Mail, which provides coverage solely to an internet-based audience.  York has family in Canada as well as in Africa, and he spends much of his time traveling between the two countries.  He is able to provide an unbiased view on the experiences and current socioeconomic situations that exist within South Africa.  The goal of York’s writing is solely to educate the readership on current events while still providing unbiased coverage of the facts and statistics associated with the events that take place in South Africa.  Many of the readers are able to provide direct feedback to York via the Globe and Mail web site, which he has been known to respond directly to reader’s questions and comments.  Because York has very few vested outside interests in this topic outside of reporting the current status in the country, he has no reason to fabricate information.  He is a very credible resource for this topic, and has also previously written about other communicable diseases aside from HIV infection and AIDS.  Although he is not a medical expert, his prior experience reporting about medical issues, and his quality reporting have made him an excellent source for reading such information.

The author makes numerous claims regarding the current status of AIDS diagnosis and testing in South Africa.  The first claim is that the previous regime, led by former President Thabo Mbeki completely disagreed with the medical research and international claims about the negative effects associated with AIDS.  In fact, in multiple situations he was actually known for claiming that the international community had engaged in acts of propaganda to inflict fear and chaos in the hearts of South African people (York, 2009, par. 6).  Furthermore, President Mbeki’s chief medical advisor was also quoted as saying that AIDS could be cured though using “traditional African remedies such as garlic, lemon juice and beet root” (York, 2009, par. 7).  Despite the constant downward spiral that AIDS had caused in the deaths of thousands of individuals across South Africa, the government remained determined in it stance that AIDS was full of propaganda and that national testing was more of a national “publicity stunt” than an act that would actually attempt to diagnose and cure the infected peoples in South Africa.  Therefore, the first claim that York proposes is that the situation has become compounded by the inadequacy of the South African government to take a legitimate stance on treating and diagnosing AIDS.  Instead, the government is directly responsible for victimizing the citizens of South Africa and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of citizens over the course of the last decade.  It has also repressed the available medical treatment methods that would have been major steps in reducing the potency of AIDS and helping to provide the infected individuals with a legitimate chance for survival.

The second claim that York proposes in his article is that the downward spiral that has been caused by the previous administration in South Africa appears to be reversing due to the efforts of current President Zuma.  President Zuma has made a national campaign to promote AIDS testing in an effort for a true analysis of the infection rate in the country as well as to determine the necessary resources to properly treat the large population in South Africa.  Zuma and his cabinet members are all scheduled to receive AIDS tests in order to publicize the testing efforts and show the population of the country that AIDS testing is a safe and secure process that will not harm them, unlike what the previous administration had argued for any years under its tenure (York, 2009, par. 4).  The previous tenure was so disastrous that “the Mbeki government’s hostility to standard AIDS treatment led to 365,000 premature deaths in South Africa from 2000 to 2005 alone, Harvard University researchers estimated in a recent study” (York, 2009, par. 5).  This previous administration is often termed “the lost years” by member so of the current administration because of the problematic circumstances that its ignorance inflicted upon the overall health and wellbeing of the country.  President Zuma has even engaged in several speeches over the last three weeks to work to educate the current South African population on the dangers of AIDS, appropriate treatment techniques and the importance of getting tested for national AIDS detection in the country.

Although the article makes no direct claims regarding the global treatment efforts around the world, York does insinuate that the current efforts of the Zuma administration are geared towards eliminating the non-treatment or ineffective treatment efforts in South Africa.  The goal of the administration is to attempt to reduce the mortality rate of the AIDS epidemic within the country and make strides to provide appropriate levels of treatment for the hundreds of thousands of individuals that are currently infected.  “Mr. Zuma has pledged to cut the rate of new HIV infections by half and provide anti-retroviral drugs to 80 per cent of those who need them by 2011” (York, 2009, par. 18).  Unfortunately, most of the population has been in a state of denial over the situation because of the negative messages being proposed over the last decade by the previous administration.  Again, this is another example of the dangerous effects that have plagued South Africa from the efforts of an ignorant government.  Of the estimated 5.3 million South Africans who are infected with HIV, only a small portion of these individuals actually are aware of their infected status through current testing efforts (York, 2009, par. 14).  President Zuma has made a national political campaign to change these statistics, which the results of the campaign are still yet to be seen; although, many people in South Africa feel very strong about the positive impact that the campaign will have on the alleviation of AIDS in certain parts of the South African population.

One of the problems associated with the article is a lack of scientific evidence to help support to claims within York’s article.  While the article contains multiple rhetorical strategies to effectively argue the author’s points, specific sources of the information and statistics used within the article are unknown.  The reader must take York for his word for much of his arguments, except for where direct quotes have been suggested by Zuma, Mbeki or their medical advisors.  It is clear that the South African government is taking large strides in working to remove the denial and negative connotation associated with AIDS diagnosis, testing and treatment.  Unfortunately, just as there are statistical flaws and potentially illegitimate information included within York’s article, many of the South African citizens and governmental officials may also be operating and making decisions based on unofficial information.  Scientists have not been able to convince the population that anti-retroviral drugs are actually a deterrent for contracting the HIV virus or developing the AIDS disease.  Due to the uneducated population in South Africa, much of this information is either not available or skewed because of a lack of consistent results.  Furthermore, the problem may also stem from a nonexistent national testing program from the previous administration that caused much damage to the health of the country.  Ignorant propaganda helped cause the AIDS epidemic to spread at higher percentages than ever previously seen throughout history.  Now, future governmental efforts are being taken to reduce the prevalence of AIDS in the country and to, again, reduce the mortality rate that currently exists due to national denial and ineffective African treatment methods that were suggested to have excellent results in eliminating AIDS in South Africa.

The problem surrounding AIDS in South Africa is accurately described by York in his short article.  He clearly defines the problem and states the historical political dilemmas that helped compound the current health situation in South Africa.  The efforts of the current governmental administration are determined to reduce the existence and transmission rates of AIDS and HIV in the country, but this is a problem that stems from a decade of false propaganda and lies by President Mbeki.  Although the article contains very little, if any, scientific information, it is unclear whether such accurate information truly exists in a country where millions of infected people are untested and untreated.  Still, the author’s background and use of authoritative quotations throughout the article provide a sense of legitimacy for the readership and ensures that the information is as accurate as possible.  York does an excellent job of supporting his claims with statistics and quotes that emphasize the extent of the AIDS dilemma in South Africa.

References

York, G. (2009, November 15). Radical shift in hiv-aids thinking: president zuma plans to be tested in public for hiv as government calls for urgent battle against disease decimating country. The Globe and Mail, Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/radical-shift-in-hiv-aids-thinking/article1364340/