A group of mainly doctors from Berlin visited HOPE Cape Town today and it was very good to engage with them in a discussion about the situation here in South Africa and what it means to them in Germany. I hope once again to make it very clear that the HIV problem is not a charity matter but that it is in the interest of the people living in Europe to avoid the building up of a resistant HIV strain here in South Africa or in East Europe.
The global village does not allow anymore for a kind of separation: with poverty it still is possible, with a virus it is getting more and more difficult and the panic with which people react to certain flu’s in the last year, be it the bird flu or now the swine flu could give an indication what would happen if a real resistant heterosexual HI virus would hit Europe and the rest of the so-called first world. Not sure about the “first” then anymore. And looking at TB with the multi- and extreme resistant TB strains, we have an idea how fast it can go in this direction.
Once again it was obvious how different the situation is in Europe and in South Africa – and as with all group talks, we learned from each other. And I am sure they go back as good ambassadors for the situation here in Southern Africa while still enjoying the beauty of this fabulous continent.
A gathering with a service at a family home ended this day which also saw a lot of preparation for tomorrow and the coming days.
Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Networking, Society and living environment, heterosexual, hiv, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, poverty, service, south africa, TB
God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE 
“make it very clear that the HIV problem is not a charity matter but that it is in the interest of the people living in Europe to avoid the building up of a resistant HIV strain here”
as sad as it may seem – this might be one of the more powerful argumentss to break levels of european ignorance …