Refusing to Save Africans

Herbert addressed recent comments made by Andrew Natsios, head of the US Agency for International Development, regarding the distribution of AIDS drugs to Africans. According to Herbert, "Mr. Natsios said attempting to get the drugs to Africans any time soon would not be worth the effort because of the difficulties posed by a lack of roads, shortages of doctors and hospitals, wars and other problems." Natsios also called the African health infrastructure "too primitive" and said that most Africans were "incapable of following the regimen."

Herbert quoted Natsios as saying, "'Many people in Africa have never seen a clock or a watch their entire lives. And if you say one o'clock in the afternoon, they do not know what you are talking about....' ...Africans may be dying by the millions from AIDS," Herbert wrote, "but the brutal stereotyping of the Dark Continent lives on, encouraged by US government officials who should know better." And while Natsios directed, "'Just keep talking about prevention,'" Herbert contended, "just talking about prevention has failed. ...Now the steps must be taken to get the medicine to the people in need."

Herbert asserted that "therapy does not always require patients to take dozens of pills a day. ...The trend in drug therapies -- in the US and elsewhere -- is toward newer, more consolidated regimens that are easier to follow." Herbert concluded, "No one believes antiretrovirals can be effectively administered in countries that are at war, or in areas devoid of doctors and hospitals or clinics. But there is a role for antiretroviral therapy to play in the catastrophe in sub-Saharan Africa. And it would be to the everlasting shame of the United States if its officials proved to be a barrier to that kind of life-saving treatment."

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