One of the articles in today's newsletter highlights a protest by people living with HIV and AIDS in Swaziland. They were protesting about several of King Mswati's wives flying overseas on a shopping trip. Swaziland is one of southern Africa's poorest countries - and has an incredibly high prevalence of HIV and AIDS. You may well ask where the government's priorities are - on the assumption that it was government money that paid for the wives' shopping trip. We have similar problems in South Africa - albeit not as starkly obvious. We are not a poor country. The amount of money spent on German battleships, submarines and fighter aircraft shows us this. So too, does the enormous amount being spent on stadia around the country for the 2010 World Cup. So where are our priorities? In the next couple of days the more recent unemployment figures will be released. There is a suggestion that they may have improved, although people are querying the way in which the data have been collected and presented - statistics are easy to manipulate to show what you want. However, even if they have improved, it will be off such a low base as to be insignificant in terms of helping to alleviate poverty in the country. And poverty is one of the main causes of disease and general ill health. The conspicuous consumption of the new elite (and the old elite) must be particularly galling when you cannot put food in front of your children. The time from infection with the HI virus to the onset of AIDS in southern Africa is relatively short in comparison to that in the developed world - access to antiretrovirals notwithstanding. One of the main reasons for this is the general ill health - often just a general drop in overall body functioning and not specific disease - that comes from poor nutrition and constant stress. Time to rethink our priorities.
Bridget Farham Editor https://www.bizcommunity.com