Aids in South Africa 2003
South Africa is believed to have the highest number of Aids and HIV sufferers in the world with more than 6 million people infected with the HIV virus. HIV and Aids is responsible for more than 600 deaths every day in South Africa.
The South African government announced a plan to distribute free antiretroviral medication to millions of citizens infected with HIV. Francesco Zizola has documented the Aids work of Médecins Sans Frontiere (MSF) in South Africa in two settings - urban and rural, with special focus on the new program set up in Nelson Mandela's birthplace, in Lusikisiki, a rural area in the former Transkei, in cooperation with the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Established in 2000, the MSF program in Khayelitsha is the first in the country to provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) in public primary health care services. With a total of 3 clinics in this slum near Cape Town, MSF clients have shown dramatic improvements. Patients on treatment for 6 months have shown an average weight gain of 19.4 pounds.
Lusikisiki, Mandela's birthplace, is one of the poorest and most destitute regions in the country and one of the most remote areas of South Africa. It is also one of the worst hit with the Aids pandemic. According to many, the area is too remote to allow the successful running of an HIV/Aids treatment program. But the MSF clinic has good patient compliance and the survival rate has been 90%, even though most patients were at an advanced stage of the illness when entering treatment. It is a model which is saving lives and giving South Africans a chance of hope.