New Cure for Aids:Raw Garlic and Lemon Rind

I should probably just post this without comment, but I cannot stop myself from adding, "What a jerk!"

Campaigners yesterday [actually several weeks ago, now] condemned remarks by South Africa's health minister, who made clear her preference for the health-giving properties of garlic, lemon, olive oil and beetroot over the drugs that the World Health Organisation wants provided to save lives in the population worst-hit by Aids in the world.

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang told a news conference in Cape Town that the government would not be pressured into meeting targets set by the WHO and UNAIDS, the joint UN programme on the disease. Far too little was known about the side effects, she said, echoing comments some years ago by President Thabo Mbeki, who doubted whether HIV caused Aids.

...Only 700,000 people in developing countries are so far on treatment. The WHO has identified South Africa as one of the countries that could derail the programme. It has the highest number of people with the virus in the world - 5.3 million - and between 600 and 1,000 people die of Aids every day.

Yesterday Ms Tshabalala-Msimang said that 42,000 people were now getting drugs in the public sector, but the minister, sometimes called Dr Garlic by critics, extolled nutrition over drugs.

"Raw garlic and a skin of the lemon - not only do they give you a beautiful face and skin but they also protect you from disease," she said, adding that beetroot was also a vital ingredient in any diet. Aids drugs held risks, she said.

I find it disconcerting that a representative democracy elects people like her and appoints them to offices they are clearly incompetent to deal with. [h/t to BrianF of A Canadian Econoview for the link]

Elect incompetents? Appoint them to office? I guess it happens in Canada, too. 8-(