Mbeki and Anti-Western sentiment in South Africa

Hey delegates,

We're super excited to meet you all in a little less than a week's time! While you go about your preparation, we hope you will take into account the blog posts we have posted over the past couple of weeks providing deep dives on particular topics we think are worth addressing.

I wanted to use this blog post to elaborate more on anti-Western sentiment in South Africa and how that plays into AIDS denialism. After decades of colonization followed by apartheid, the reassertion of African identity was a key goal of the African National Congress. President Mbeki called this goal 'African Renaissance' and believed that the South African psyche had been crippled by decades of colonial rule and apartheid (Paroske 154). Especially in matters of science and medicine, Mbeki and other AIDS denialists in SA were well aware of Western stereotypes of Africans as primitives who naively relied on herbal or folk medicine and were incapable of understanding public health guidelines. Moreover, western researchers have historically ignored local factors when conducting trials or gathering data. Consequently, attempts by the West to impose their solutions on South Africa came to be seen as colonial paternalism which Mbeki was extremely skeptical of (Paroske 154). 

In a similar vein, Mbeki was also very distrustful of multinational pharmaceutical companies, whom he saw as exploitative and unethical. In 1997, when Mbeki was Deputy President, the ANC tried to break AIDS drugs' patents to manufacture cheaper generic versions but 39 pharmaceutical companies filed suit in Pretoria's High Court to oppose this under WTO patent rules and US Vice President Al Gore threatened to punish South Africa with sanctions if they followed through with circumventing patents held by American companies (Paroske 155, Wang 11). Around this time, there was also an uproar over unethical HIV clinical trials in Africa, where some pregnant women with HIV were given dummy pills as a placebo, causing potentially 1000 infants to be born with HIV that may not have if the women were given the ARV drug (Stolberg). Due to this distrust, Mbeki sought domestically-made solutions such as Virodene, an AIDS drug made in South Africa that Mbeki heavily promoted despite its dangerous and lethal effects. 

Delegates, as you continue your research and planning for this committee, I urge you to consider how your solutions may be perceived in a South Africa that remains wary of Western intentions and how you can build trust between the government and international actors. Why should they trust you? I hope you will consider this and am excited to see you all soon!

- Anish V

Citations:

1. Wang, J. (2008). AIDS denialism and “The humanisation of the African.” Race & Class, 49(3), 1–18. doi:10.1177/0306396807085898 [Unfortunately this article is behind a paywall but feel free to email me at avankayalapati@bmun.org if you would like the PDF]

2. Paroske, M. (2009). Deliberating International Science Policy Controversies: Uncertainty and AIDS in South Africa. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 95:2, 148-170. www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00335630902842053?casa_token=u_cs_1sjEmgAAAAA%3AfeAdWn2DCC0uFUdweIwv0TiiuwJYk9k-2PYIBYCLQoA2CHz8ApNXB2f5OKPYKqa3GFzJOoEOdj54&

3. Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. "U.S. AIDS Research Abroad Sets Off Outcry Over Ethics". The New York Times, 18 Sept. 1997, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/18/us/us-aids-research-abroad-sets-off-outcry-over-ethics.html. Accessed 19 Feb 2021.

Conference Logistics

Schedule:

Friday 02/26	5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.	Opening Ceremony
	7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.	Committee Session 1
Saturday 02/27	9:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Committee Session 2
	1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.	Committee Session 3
Sunday 02/28	9:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Committee Session 4
	1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.	Closing Ceremony

Delegate Guide:

The Delegate Guide contains more dates/times, info on accessing and navigating Zoom, and basic Zoom etiquette!

 

A 2021 Perspective: A Dive into Demographics

 

Hi all, 

A lot of the research you have been doing in preparation for conference would have led you to look into the history of the epidemic and past legislative actions countries have taken. One important thing to consider when coming up with solutions is to look at the current state of the situation and do a deep-dive into any trends you can see to be able to cater your solutions to be relevant and specific. 

Here are some important demographic aspects to take into consideration during the ideation stages, and see if you can find specific aspects you might be able to combat as well (ie. disproportionately impacted areas- think why?)

Demographic Stats: 

• Every week, around 5500 young women aged 15–24 years become infected with HIV
• In sub-Saharan Africa, 5/6 infections among adolescents aged 15–19 years are among girls. 
• Young women aged 15–24 years are twice as likely to be living with HIV than men.
• More than one third (35%) of women around the world have experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some time in their lives.
• Women who have experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence are 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV than women who have not experienced such violence.
• Women and girls accounted for about 48% of all new HIV infections in 2019. In sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls accounted for 59% of all new HIV infections.

Key populations

• Key populations and their sexual partners account for:
  • 62% of new HIV infections globally.
  • 99% of new HIV infections in eastern Europe and central Asia.
  • 97% of new HIV infections in the Middle East and North Africa.
  • 96% of new HIV infections in western and central Europe and North America.
  • 98% of new HIV infections in Asia and the Pacific.
  • 77% of new HIV infections in Latin America.
  • 69% of new HIV infections in western and central Africa.
  • 60% of new HIV infections in the Caribbean.
  • 28% of new HIV infections in eastern and southern Africa.
• The risk of acquiring HIV is:
• 26 times higher among gay men and other men who have sex with men.
• 29 times higher among people who inject drugs.
• 30 times higher for sex workers.
• 13 times higher for transgender people.

Source of information:  https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet#:~:text=26%20million%20%5B25.1%20million%E2%80%9326.2,living%20with%20HIV%20in%202019.

HIV Testing

 Hi Delegates, 

Besides the importance of finding a cure, or at least solution to delay mortality from the virus, it is also crucial that we consider preventative and mitigation measures for this crisis. This blog post will focus on the key considerations of effective testing rollout, as well as the importance of testing in controlling and decreasing the spread of AIDS. 

The Importance of Testing: 

HIV testing is important in intercepting the spread of AIDS by catching cases of HIV before they can lead to AIDS. In America, tests were initially used to test the presence of HIV in donated blood, to cut off the transmission of HIV through blood transfusions. However, testing also offers crucial benefits to an individual. If one tests positive, they are able to begin ART quickly and reduce their viral load to an undetectable level and prevent the development of AIDS, the more severe condition. Since HIV targets your immune system, it is important to treat the patient while they are healthy and lacking clear negative symptoms, and this is only achievable through testing to identify cases. HIV testing will also aid in preventing reinfection. Furthermore, according to the CDC, if a woman with HIV is treated early in her pregnancy, the risk of transmitting HIV to her baby is 1% or less. 

HIV testing is also vital to tracking its spread in the community. Currently, UNAIDS estimates that half the people in the world with HIV have not been tested and diagnosed. Once made aware of a positive HIV test results, studies have shown that people reduce behaviour that is likely to spread HIV by as much as 80%.

Considerations of an Effective Rollout Plan:

In 2010, the South African government launched a large-scale, HIV testing campaign that increased annual HIV testing from 50% in 2008 to 66.5% in 2014. In planning and carrying out such a campaign, there are important a few key considerations: 

• Testing type: Determining whether to offer blood, urine or oral-based testing, or all as options.

• Reach: Ensuring testing occurs in both metropolitan and rural areas, and is affordable for the population.

• Infrastructure: Planning out how to implement the testing stations, as well as what body will oversee the rollout. People must trust the ones carrying out the plan, and with large testing numbers and results, careful management is needed to account for the data. 

• Ethics and Privacy: Considering patient privacy and methods to combat the negative stigma surrounding not only getting a positive result, but getting a test in the first place. Although tests are effective in controlling the virus’ spread, they could be misused to discriminate against vulnerable groups.

• Follow-up: Planning what will be done with the results of the tests, and how it can be applied forward to further mitigate the spread of AIDS.

OH Sign-Ups!

Good morning, delegates!

Office Hours will be next week MWF from 1-2 PM💓Please stop by : ) 

The signup sheet is attached here: 

https://calendly.com/aidscrisisbmunlxix/bmun-aids-crisis-office-hours 

Rollout Methods Used to Address Other Epidemics/Pandemics

 Hello delegates, 

As you all know, one very important aspect of this committee is planning and executing an effective, inclusive, and equitable rollout of HIV/AIDS medications and drugs. Of course getting support from the current administration is one essential step, but an effective rollout is more nuanced than just that (as evident with the current distribution of COVID-19 vaccines). So below I will highlight two commendable drug distribution efforts that will hopefully provide you with some insight on the intricacies of this important process. 

H1N1 Pandemic: While the response to the H1N1 (or Swine Flu) pandemic was not the strongest, leaders across the globe were able to effectively respond to it before it blew to the proportions of the current COVID-19 outbreak. In the United States this pandemic was the first time that states had to take part in a mass vaccine rollout campaign. States were tasked with distributing the vaccines, and those that leveraged local/county health departments, who better understood (1) the best ways to distribute the vaccine and (2) which communities needed the vaccine the most, produced a stronger response to the pandemic. The US also had a strong allocation plan through increased dialogue between state and local officials, using more flexible allocation methods (i.e. distributing to a wide range of locations like colleges/universities, hospitals, public health clinics, etc), and using all available data (epidemiological, population, etc.). 

NYC Smallpox Outbreak: New York City’s handling of the 1947 smallpox outbreak is often lauded as one of the best handlings of an infectious disease in modern history, vaccinating 5 million people in just a few weeks. While a lot of what went into this vaccine rollout is not applicable to every drug distribution effort, the trust the government was able to instill in their constituency was essential to containing the issue at hand. Since the outbreak transpired after World War II, the public had a good amount of trust in the government, which made vaccinating millions of people much easier to achieve.  

 

While HIV/AIDS is not an airborne disease that only requires a vaccine to be cured, the rollout of drugs, vaccines, and medications all share similar strategies. In both of the above examples, it is clear that there are certain strategies and methods that can be leveraged to produce a better response to the ongoing health crisis; establishing strong distribution capabilities, a comprehensive allocation plan, and establishing trust with the public are all necessary to properly combat the HIV/AIDS crisis. I hope to see some or all of these strategies implemented throughout the conference.