During my five plus months of travel in southern Africa last year, I heard similar complaints over and over and over. Lack of funding is often not the issue for many issues in South Africa. Failure to distribute money and resources has plagued the South African government for years. Mbeki has his strengths but fighting the war on AIDS is not one of them. The numbers down there are astounding and some days it's just impossible not to think about it because everywhere you go down there, AIDS is present. From the burial service businesses (which pop up every day and even advertise on TV), to fresh graves everywhere, to stories from locals, stories from doctors, children without parents, the newspapers, TV, etc., the problems is everywhere there. It is beyond comprehension that the government there can ignore such a critical issue when people are dieing all around them.
"South Africa has an estimated five million people infected with the AIDS virus -- the highest number in the world -- and has frequently been accused of moving too slowly to combat the epidemic.
Richard Feachem, head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, told South African media this week that Pretoria was failing to get international grant money to organizations fighting the disease on the ground.
"It's intolerable that the money gets stuck in Pretoria and if Pretoria can't move it for any reason, we will simply withdraw it and establish direct relationships with the people actually doing the work," Feachem said." - Reuters
