South Africa's HIV failures cost more than 300,000 lives. Now this painful past is helping in Covid-19 fight.
Thokoza, South Africa When President Donald Trump mused recently about injecting household disinfectants as treatment for Covid-19 in the White House briefing room, South Africans were reminded of their own dark past.
Two decades ago, the country's health minister announced that beetroot or garlic could treat HIV/AIDS.South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki at the time falsely believed that HIV treatments could be poisonous, so he kept proven, lifesaving antiretrovirals from those in need. In all, South Africa's official AIDS denials and misinformation cost the lives of more than 300,000 people, according to several studies."We can't have a large number of people dying," Dr.
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