Gambia's AIDS "Cure" Causes Alarm

(AP)  From the pockets of his billowing white robe, Gambia's president pulls out a plastic container, closes his eyes in prayer and rubs a green herbal paste onto the ribcage of the patient — a concoction he claims is a cure for AIDS.

He then orders the thin man to swallow a bitter yellow drink, followed by two bananas.

"Whatever you do, there are bound to be skeptics, but I can tell you my method is foolproof," President Yahya Jammeh told an Associated Press reporter, surrounded by bodyguards in his presidential compound. "Mine is not an argument, mine is a proof. It's a declaration. I can cure AIDS and I will."

In a continent suffering from the world's worst AIDS epidemic, Jammeh's claims of a miracle cure are alarming public health workers already struggling against faith healers dispensing herbal remedies from inside thatched huts.

The biggest concern is that the Gambian leader requires patients to cease their anti-retroviral drugs, a move that risks weakening their immune systems and making them even more prone to infection, said Dr. Antonio Filipe Jr., head of the World Health Organization in neighboring Senegal.

Since January, when he announced his cure to a gathering of foreign diplomats, Jammeh has thrown the bureaucratic machinery of this small West African country behind the claim. The last six news releases on Gambia's official Web site are dedicated to the president's treatment, available to Gambians free of charge. Regular radio and TV addresses publicize it and the Health Ministry has issued a declaration of support.

Although the HIV rate is relatively low in Gambia compared to other African nations — 1.3 percent of the country's 1.6 million people are infected — the president's claim has left international health organizations in a bind.

WHO's Filipe was diplomatic about Jammeh's claims, saying his organization respects the president's point of view. But, he added: "As the World Health Organization, we would like to state quite clearly the following — No. 1: so far there is no cure for AIDS."

Jammeh, a 41-year-old former army colonel who wrested gained control in a 1994 coup, says his treatment is entirely voluntary and argues that his medications cannot be mixed with other drugs because "I don't want any complications."

The claim of a cure has prompted comparisons to the South African minister of health who won international ridicule last year for suggesting that a diet of garlic, beet root and lemon juice is more effective than anti-retroviral drugs. South African President Thabo Mbeki has been accused of not addressing the epidemic: His government did not provide AIDS drugs until a lawsuit by AIDS activists forced it to in 2002.

Jammeh has gone to great lengths to prove his claim, sending blood samples of the first nine patients to a lab in Senegal for testing.

A letter on the lab's stationery indicates that of the nine, four had undetectable viral loads, one had a moderate viral load and three had high loads, a result posted on the government's Web site as proof of a cure.

However, the lab technician who performed the tests warned they are not conclusive since the blood samples were only taken after the treatment.

"There is no baseline ... You can't prove that someone has been cured of AIDS from just one data point. It's dishonest of the Gambian government to use our results in this way," said Dr. Coumba Toure Kane, head of the molecular biology unit at Senegal's Cheikh Anta Diop University.

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[drinuk]

I would like to convene a meeting on this matter between Bill Gates and Dr Rath. Both of these individuals are up to their necks in the Aids debate, one pumping billions into Drugs the latter into arguing strongly against them. At the very least Bill Gates should enter with a open mind. I think he is wrong in his support for Big Pharma, unless of course he now owns them.

[drinuk]

The comment that South African activist action caused the government to give the drugs is untrue. The activist was an agent of the Drug Company, who as now been charged with Genocide in the Hague. South Africa believe that by helping the people to be healthy they will resist the disease, other countries in Africa are having success with this policy and it's really hurting the Drug companies and those taking "Back Handers" from them.

[drinuk]

MITYWHITY, Before referring to the statement as stupid, go to the Dr Rath website, the whole situation is very strange and I for one would not put anything past big pharma. They are in my opinion agents of the devil.

[pwrslm]

Seems like a pretty decent healthcare plan. Unlike ours in the U.S. Bush has been rubbing all our backsides with vasoline for years to take away the pain of getting reamed up the wahzoo.
Posted by olebd at 01:40 PM : Feb 21, 2007

Bush? Cmon, gimme a break. Every politician since Hoover has promised us health care, not 1 has delivered, not even the Kennedy's.

[anopinion1]

it probably works that is why it is such a big issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that being said if it did work everything in our governments greedy hands would be done to prevent this knowledge from spreading.......and this article would not be here...
just another nut job people

"maybe scott and his friends should go over their and try to see if they can spread their disease"

[olebd]

Seems like a pretty decent healthcare plan. Unlike ours in the U.S. Bush has been rubbing all our backsides with vasoline for years to take away the pain of getting reamed up the wahzoo.

[neojoker]

I also wanted to add, that if you do a search, you eventually come up with the stories being posted by the media in gambia, and there is obviously major censorship. There is a definite difference between what his people are saying on the web, and what is being written in their papers. Wow, just like in our country, lol.

[neojoker]

If you do a search for Yahya Jammeh in yahoo, this story has many branches. His people are speaking out. When you read them, you get the wierd feeling of familiarity, because it sounds exactly like what you read about our president. I just thought it was interesting.

[mitywhity]

corporate agents first engineered the spread of the AIDS among the people!
Posted by Agnim

stupid.

[agnim]

"This is why education is important. Especially Science.
Posted by cbscrash07 at 07:47 PM : Feb 20, 2007"

Yes, with education, the people will realize that they are being ripped off by drug companies after the corporate agents first engineered the spread of the AIDS among the people!