13 - 18 August 2006

The 16th International AIDS Conference is held in Toronto Canada. During the conference the South African government and Department of Health elicit strong criticism on themselves by prominently displaying garlic, beetroot and lemons in the country's stand. With the death of inmate MM back in South Africa on their hands international public opinion drastically turns on them. During the closing session the United Nations' Special Envoy to Africa on HIV/AIDS, Stephen Lewis, accuses the South African government of expounding theories “more worthy of a lunatic fringe than a concerned and compassionate state.”

16th Int. AIDS Conference - Plans to headline PLWHAs

Various activist groups gather before the 16th International AIDS Conference to discuss that the more lip service is paid to human rights the less action is taken to entrench them. Activists from around the globe strategise on how they can turn the conference into a platform for the voices of people living with HIV/AIDS.

16th Int. AIDS Conference - Opening of the South African stand

Footage of the opening of the contraversial South African stand at the Toronto AIDS Conference which prominently displayed lemon, garlic and beetroot and only a single course of triple combination antiretroviral therapy. Then Health Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, shows her disregard and ignorance of science in response to questions on nutrition, antiretrovirals and pre-exposure prophylaxis. The mixed messages sent by the South African stand are criticised by Mark Heywood. Khomanani representative Sipho Nhlapo talks about how his health has improved on ARVs, coincidently the ARVs on the stand were Sipho Nhlapo's own personal course.

16th Int. AIDS Conference - Mark Heywood's "Price of Inaction" Speech

On this tape covering the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto Mark Heywood tells a tale of two countries: China and South Africa and looks at what the cost of a lack of leadership around HIV/AIDS meant in South Africa and what a lack of political leadership can mean in China in the next few years.

16th Int. AIDS Conference - Stephen Lewis

On this source tape covering the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto we covered Stephen Lewis' closing address to the conference. Lewis, the Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa at the time, had this to say about the South African government in his address: "South Africa is the unkindest one of all, it is the only country in Africa amongst all the countries I have traversed in the last 5 years whose government is still obtuse, dilatory and negligent about rolling out treatment. This is the only country in Africa whose government continues to propound theories more worthy of a lunatic fringe than of a concerned and compassionate state."

16th Int. AIDS Conference - 25 Years of AIDS – Reflecting Back and Looking Forward

16th Int. AIDS Conference - Trashing of the South African Stand

This tape covers the protests at the infamous South African government's stand which displayed beetroot, garlic and lemons more prominently than ARVs at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada.