DA leader says that while the disease has become a treatable, chronic condition, this comes at a massive cost
A Mind-Shift is needed to win the war against HIV and AIDS.
On Saturday night, I attended a fundraiser for a children’s hospice called Iris House.
It is an NGO that cares for severely disabled and terminally ill children, and supports their families. At our cabinet meeting last week, we had agreed to lease, for a nominal amount, a dilapidated structure at one of our health facilities to Iris House, to assist them in their work.
The depth and effusiveness of their gratitude for the use of this small derelict house made me reflect, in some embarrassment, on how little government does for organisations that do the work we should be doing to support people who are unable to support themselves.
And that, inevitably, brought me full circle to thinking about how many billions we pour into treating preventable conditions, while angry activists, who have built whole industries on these issues, attack us for not doing enough.
Inevitably, I reflected on one of the world’s biggest conferences – the 20th International AIDS Conference – that was recently held in Melbourne, Australia.