ザッキー・アハマット氏が抗エイズ治療を再開
＊稲場さんより
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 08:52:27 +0900
Subject: [viva_hiv_aids] 【ニュース】ザッキー・アハマット氏が抗エイズ治療を再開
皆さん こんにちは。
南アフリカのエイズ患者・HIV感染者の組織「治療行動キャンペーン」（TAC）は８
月１日〜３日の間、ダーバンで全国大会を開催しました。
議長のザッキー・アハマット氏は、これまで、抗エイズ治療を公的医療のラインに
含めていない南ア共和国政府のエイズ対策に抗議し、「多くの人が治療薬を飲めるよ
うになるまで、自分は治療薬を飲まない」という選択をしてきました。しかし、ここ
数年、彼の健康状態は非常に悪化し、日和見感染症の発症等も頻発するようになって
いました。
この大会で、TAC全国執行委員会は、アハマット氏に対して、抗エイズ治療を開始
するよう提案。アハマット氏はこれをうけて、安価なジェネリック薬を摂取するとい
う選択をしました。これについて、以下、南アフリカ出版社協会（SAPA）およびAP通
信の報道が以下のものです。
80年代の反アパルトヘイト運動、90年代前半の南アフリカのレズビアン・ゲイ解放
運動
（彼の業績はここにhttp://www.equality.org.za/archive/landmarks/index.php）、
そして現在のTACの運動……彼はつねに世界の最前線で闘い続けてきました。アフリ
カの多くのHIV感染者・AIDS患者に、勇気と誇りを与え続けてきたザッキー・アハマ
ット氏は、ネルソン・マンデラ氏とともに、南アフリカが生んだ、この世界になくて
はならない人物の一人だと思います。ここで彼を南アフリカの「エイズ否定」政策の
犠牲にするわけには行きません。
それにしても、一人の人間の治療に関する決定がここまで大きなインパクトを持つ
ということは今までなかったと思います。彼の影響力の強さを改めて認識します。
稲場 雅紀
********
TAC Congress Urges Achmat to Take ARVs
Visit The Publisher's Site
South African Press Association (Johannesburg)
August 2, 2003
Posted to the web August 4, 2003
Durban
The Treatment Action Campaign's (TAC) national congress in Durban urged on
Saturday its charismatic chairman Zackie Achmat to start taking
antiretroviral (ARV) medication for his HIV condition.
About 520 delegates gathered at the Coastlands Hotel supported by a show of
hands an entreaty from the TAC's secretary Mark Heywood that Achmat start
taking ARV medication to prolong his life.
Achmat is refusing to take anti-AIDS drugs until the government rolls out a
national treatment plan -- despite reports that his health is rapidly
deteriorating.
TAC spokeswoman Rukia Cornelius said the congress started on Friday.
Saturday morning was devoted to Achmat and Heywood reporting back on the
campaign's activities over the last two years. National congresses areheld
every other year.
The rest of the day would be devoted to commissions, Cornelius said.
A number of commissions were discussing a wide range of issues, including
the TAC constitution, treatment literature and literacy, building theTAC
districts (local structures) and strengthening municipal HIV/Aids services.
Other commissions were discussing the TAC's civil disobedience campaign,
which was launched to pressure the government into a national treatment
plan, a health care workers' campaign with the same objective, and
increasing the role of the youth in the TAC.
Although not on the agenda, the Medicines Control Council's threat to
withdraw the temporary registration of Nevirapine -- thereby effectively
banning the anti-Aids medication -- because it believed the paperwork in a
key Ugandan study to be defective, was also bound to be discussed.
The TAC during the week said it was consulting its lawyers about the threat.
The lobby group won a high court order 16 months ago compelling the
government to make ARV medication available to pregnant mothers.
Cornelius added that the highlight on Sunday would be the election of a new
secretariat for the TAC and the confirmation of its new national executive
council.
The election would be supervised by the Independent Electoral Commission.
One member expected to be returned uncontested for another two-year term
wasAchmat.
*******************
Associated Press ミ 8-4-03
HIV-infected activist abandons pledge not to take AIDS drugs until they are
widely available
By ELLIOTT SYLVESTER
Associated Press Newswires
English
Copyright 2003. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP ) - South Africa's top AIDS activist said
Monday he is abandoning his pledge not to take potentially lifesaving AIDS
drugs, ending an unsuccessful effort to force the government to give its
people the medicine.
Zackie Achmat, who has been HIV-positive for years, accused President Thabo
Mbeki and other officials of not caring about the lives of those infected
with the virus that causes AIDS.
"I am not going to die because they want us to die," the 41 year old told a
cheering crowd outside an AIDS conference in the coastal city of Durban.
Achmat, head of the Treatment Action Campaign, will begin taking cheap,
generic versions of AIDS drugs as soon as he gets the appropriate medical
tests, Nathan Geffen, a TAC spokesman, told The Associated Press.
"We need Zackie to live through this and not become a victim of the
government's denialism and arrogance," Geffen said.
Achmat's protest - refusing to take the medicine until the government
provided it to poor South Africans - attracted worldwide attention and put
a human face on the pain caused by the government's often criticized AIDS
policy.
In recent years, he was frequently ill. Since last August, he has had two
chest infections and a degenerative nerve disorder.
Geffen said the TAC's leadership "ordered" Achmat to start taking the drugs
so he could continue to lead the protest movement.
The activist has been on a steady diet of vitamins, antidepressants,
tuberculosis prophylactics and nutrients, but acknowledged earlier this
year he would need AIDS medicine to survive.
His sacrifice to what many see as the country's second liberation struggle
after the fall of apartheid caught the attention of former President Nelson
Mandela, who visited Achmat last year in a show of solidarity.
The government has been criticized for its often lackluster approach to
fighting AIDS and for Mbeki's flirtation with dissident AIDS theorists, who
doubt the disease's existence and the safety and effectiveness of medicine
used to fight it.
Though the Cabinet said last year it was looking into providing AIDS drugs,
there has been almost no move to do so.
An estimated 5 million South Africans are believed to be HIV positive.
Unlike the vast majority of infected people in this impoverished country,
Achmat has health insurance that will pay for his drugs.
His decision came as his movement announced a second wave of civil
disobedience, since there has been no progress in four months of talks with
the government.
The TAC marched Monday to the AIDS conference, demanding the resumption of
negotiations between the government, business and civil society on
establishing a cohesive national AIDS policy.
Conference speakers urged greater commitment to the development of
vaccines, increased access to AIDS medicines and prevention plans targeting
young people.
Achmat's move was welcomed by many who supported his cause.
Dr. Kgosi Letlape, chair of the South African Medical Association, praised
Achmat's decision and said Achmat's improvement under the drugs will make
him a living example of their effectiveness.
"It is high time that South Africans see that these drugs are lifesavers,"
he said.
Marta Darder, coordinator of Medecins Sans Frontieres' access to essential
medicines campaign, welcomed Achmat's change of heart, especially his
decision to take generic drugs, a symbolic nod to his efforts to bring down
the cost of the medicines.
"We don't think that this fight needs people to go to that level of
personal sacrifice. He is a key player and this will bring more light on
the issue of AIDS in this country," Darder said.
There was skepticism, however, from the National Association of People
Living with AIDS. "As much as HIV and AIDS is about the individual, we
can't as a whole nation focus on one person. Many people in this country
are not taking AIDS drugs," said group director, Nkululeko Nxesi.
◆cf.Achmat, Zackie［ザッキー・アハマット］
http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/acd/gr/gsce/dw/achmat.htm