The Virus, Vitamins & Vegetables: The South African HIV/AIDS Mystery (Paperback)
This collection of essays by some of South Africa’s foremost HIV/AIDS writers, doctors, and activists takes readers down the rabbit hole of AIDS denialism when thousands of people died unnecessarily as their treatment became the subject of intellectual debate by politicians. Recounting the democratic, postapartheid government's questioning of the link between HIV and AIDS and the contention of the inefficacy of antiretroviral drugs, this history stands as both a chronicle of the past and a cautionary tale for the future.
Kerry Cullinan is managing editor of Health-e News Service, Africa's only dedicated multimedia health news agency. She is a multiaward-winning journalist who has worked in the media since the mid-1980s. Anso Thom is Health-e's print editor. She won the CNN African Journalist of the Year Award for HIV/AIDS reporting.
“Chronicles the tragedy that unfolds when leaders choose to play with people’s lives by ignoring evidence and science and embracing the untested remedies and theories of those on the lunatic fringe. It challenges us to consider our choices and responsibilities in a time of deep crisis.” —Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, deputy speaker, South African National Assembly
“This book is about much more than merely writing up an important part of our history. It is about trying to understand the extent of the calamity that befell us through the mismanagement of AIDS, and how it happened, so as to forewarn us against a repetition.” —Justice Edwin Cameron, Constitutional Court of South Africa and recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights
“This book is about much more than merely writing up an important part of our history. It is about trying to understand the extent of the calamity that befell us through the mismanagement of AIDS, and how it happened, so as to forewarn us against a repetition.” —Justice Edwin Cameron, Constitutional Court of South Africa and recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights