Mortal Combat: AIDS Denialism and the Struggle for Antiretrovirals in South Africa (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"* 'AIDS denialism has resulted in the deaths of at least hundreds of thousands of people. Nattrass's book provides an important service to the world and will save lives.' Mark Wainberg, Director of the McGill University AIDS Centre, past President of the International AIDS Society and co-chair of the Toronto 2006 AIDS Conference * 'This book is more than a chronicle of the legacy of AIDS denialism in South Africa. It argues eloquently and convincingly for the scientific governance of medicine.' Zackie Achmat, Treatment Action Campaign * 'Mortal Combat provides a compelling and just exposition of South Africa's puzzling and tragic engagement with AIDS denialism.' Edwin Cameron, Supreme Court of Appeal judge and author of Witness to AIDS"

Product Description

The AIDS pandemic and "denialism" is an international issue and South Africa is a flash point case study. "Mortal Combat" is a history of AIDS policy in South Africa. It exposes the strategy and tactics of AIDS denialists and focuses on the struggle for antiretrovirals to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to extend the lives of people living with AIDS.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 257 pages
• Publisher: University of Kwazulu Natal Press; 1 edition (July 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1869141326
• ISBN-13: 978-1869141325
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #219,174 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Killing Babies, November 7, 2007

By	Reader (Arlington, Virginia) - See all my reviews

"Mortal Combat" tells how South African President Thabo Mbeki fell under the influence of quack AIDS theories at exactly the moment when the disease was becoming a massive public health crisis in South Africa. His government's halting and confused response to the epidemic was one of the great tragedies of post-1994 South Africa -- and one of the world's great policy idiocies of recent decades.

Mbeki was emotionally unable to accept the fact that HIV spreads through sexual contact, lest that finding "vindicate" racist attitudes about African culture. Groping for alternative explanations, he seized on dissident AIDS theories circulating on the internet, which blamed AIDS on poor nutrition and poverty. His endorsement of crackpot "science" had literally deadly results: it empowered his health minister (a heavy-drinking ANC hack) to delay the roll out of ARVs for years and to push "traditional" African remedies on a population of sick poor people who looked to the government for guidance. Eventually, Mbeki's anti-science policy was reversed in the face of opposition from civil society, unions, the courts, and the ruling ANC party itself -- but not before tens of thousands of South Africans had died unnecessarily. In the process, South Africa and the ANC became the laughingstock of the world.

"Mortal Combat" is informative, clearly written, and committed to science-based public health (which can't be taken for granted in South Africa). It also reproduces dozens of hilarious Zapiro cartoons. However, I took off one star because the book is based mostly on secondary sources and newspaper articles, and stays narrowly focused on AIDS denialism and its impact on policy -- it doesn't even attempt to tell the whole epic history of the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. But the heart of "Mortal Combat" is in the right place and it is essential reading for every educated South African -- especially the next generation of ANC leaders. Let's hope they learn from Mbeki's folly.

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding and important book, May 6, 2009

By	John P Moore, PhD (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

Nattrass carefully and thoroughly reviews the tragic events in South Africa that lead to over 300,000 unnecessary deaths from AIDS. She records how the Mbeki administration fell under the influence of a small group of pseudoscientists and lay people who persuaded him that HIV did not cause AIDS and that anti-retroviral drugs are toxic. As a result, scientifically indefensible public health policies were introduced. Nattrass discusses how and why this happened, castigating Mbeki and his Health Minister, as well as the foreign "advisors" who were ultimately responsible for the catastrophe - people like Peter Duesberg and Christine Maggiore (who, in one of life's ultimate ironies herself died of AIDS last year, after many of years of aggressive denyial that HIV was a deadly virus). Nattrass's book should be read by anyone interested in the truth about how deadly AIDS denialism truly is, and in learning about its tragic consequences.