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Nathan Geffen
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NATHAN GEFFEN
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| 2002 |
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 Nelson Mandela visited Zackie Achmat with the intention to ask him to reconsider commencing antiretroviral therapy. Zackie respectfully refused Mandela's request prompting Mandela to say in a press conference after their meeting that Zackie "is a role model and his action is based on fundamental principles, which we all admire." "People far beyond our borders are aware of the principled stand that he has taken. It would have been feeble for me to come to him to say: "I want you now to change; to take drugs," because his position is that as long as drugs are not available to everybody especially the poor, he will not take them."
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| 2005 |
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 Matthias Rath, who has been discredited in a number of countries in Europe has set up the Dr Rath Foundation in South Africa and has claimed that his package of vitamins can reverse the course of AIDS. While there is no scientific proof that anything besides antiretrovirals (ARVs) can effectively treat HIV and AIDS by restoring our immune systems, the Rath Foundation has actively campaigned against the use of ARVs. Together with the Siyayinqoba support group, we learnt in this episode from the deaths of Ntombekhaya Kruthani and Noxolo Ngalo, and the views of doctors and activists experienced in HIV/AIDS work, of the disastrous consequences of taking the vitamin ‘cures' offered by the Rath Foundation.
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| 2008 |
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President Motlanthe appointed Barbara Hogan to the position of Minister of Health. This move by the third democratically elected President of South Africa signalled that government's disastrous approach to HIV/AIDS had ended. Sadly over two million South Africans died of AIDS during the presidency of Thabo Mbeki and the tenure of Tshabalala-Msimang. At least 300,000 deaths could have been avoided had they merely met the most basic constitutional requirements.
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| Documentaries |
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 Media, Method, Message follows the story of Beat It! the worlds first HIV/AIDS magazine programme. Narrated by the shows co-creator and director Jack Lewis, we see how Beat It! worked towards removing the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and addressed the concerns of real people living with AIDS through documentary inserts and an in studio HIV+ support group.
The Treatment Action Campaign “in less than five years of existence moved a nation, shifted government policy and advanced the rights of people with HIV everywhere in the world… TAC’s struggle grows out of the best traditions of the anti-apartheid movement. TAC will be a shining light for citizen action for decades to come.” - Graca Machel, on presenting TAC with the Nelson Mandela, Health and Human Rights Award in 2002.
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