PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES & THE ROLE OF MEDICINE IN SOUTH AFRICA.


The aims and objectives of my presentation at the European Parliament were to remind and educate on South African history - in particular a focus on the history of health disabilities and disadvantages suffered by the African people under Apartheid. It was also my aim to compare and contrast Apartheid South Africa with present South Africa - in other words, we now have political freedoms but we are still far away from economic freedoms and self-reliance. In the introduction, I also nailed the international lie that President Mbeki has stated that HIV is not the cause of AIDS - there is no such record.

His two questions, however, remain unanswered:

Nutritional AIDS dominates the scene in South Africa today as indeed it did during Apartheid. In the middle 1950's and 1960's, 50% of black children were dead before the age of 5. The causes of death were recorded as: PNEUMONIA, HIGH FEVER, DEHYDRATION and Intractable DIARRHOEA due to protein deficiency.

Today, these clinical features are called AIDS. Today in South Africa, TB is the leading cause of death and morbidity amongst Africans, but this is called AIDS. In conclusion, NUTRITIONAL AIDS is a direct result of Apartheid in association with capitalist iatrogenesis - hence the shacks (favelas), lack of sanitation, lack of clean drnking water, unemployment and destitution.

Sam Mhlongo

Listen to Mark Griffiths' interview with Sam Mhlongo
Read the "African National Congress" document


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