HELEN ZILLE SLAMMED FOR VIEWS ON HIV
Western Cape Premier and leader of the DA Helen Zille has been slammed for comments in which she criticised people who contract HIV through their own behaviour.
In her weekly newsletter on 6 November, Zille questioned why taxpayers should have to pay for “preventable illness” such as when people contract HIV through “irresponsible” behaviour.
“For almost a decade, many AIDS activists defended the right to privacy in the sexual domain – while demanding the right to full and free HIV treatment. Thus it became politically ‘incorrect’ to condemn the widespread practice of multiple concurrent sexual partners,” she wrote.
She added that the response to the HIV epidemic has “largely had the effect of fuelling further denial and dependency by absolving rational (usually male) adults from the responsibility of changing their behaviour. Taxpayers must foot the bill without asking any politically-incorrect questions. Enough already!”
Commenting later on Twitter, Zille said: “if you duck responsibility, don’t come running to the state when you need treatment”.
Writing on Quackdown.info, Gavin Silber and Nathan Geffen described Zille’s argument as “misinformed”, “unscientific” and “unconstitutional”.
“Consistently only providing medical care to people based on ‘personal responsibility’ leads to frightening consequences. It would mean cigarette smokers would not get treated for cancer. People who eat unhealthily would not get treated for type II diabetes or heart disease,” they wrote.
“The same for people who don’t look after their teeth properly, or suntan too much and develop skin cancer, or sportsmen who over-train and injure themselves. There is no precedent for providing health-care only to people who live a life of perfect responsibility”.
Silber and Geffen also argued that Zille’s stance would lead to poor people who cannot access private health care being discriminated against.
They further noted that providing antiretroviral treatment has actually been proven to be an effective way to reduce HIV transmission (and will, as a result, reduce healthcare costs in future).
Zille replied to Silber and Geffen’s article, accusing the piece of arguing against “a statement I never made. It invents a position, falsely ascribes it to me – and then seeks to challenge it”.
She further insisted that “It is totally ludicrous to say that I suggested withdrawing treatment from those who contract AIDS ‘irresponsibly’.”
They, in turn, cited numerous examples in which Zille appears to do just that.
I agree with Zille, why should the state have to foot the bill for irresponsible behavior. It appears as we march on into the 21st century there is a growing dependency by many to look to government to fix personal problems. Personal responsibility has completely gone out the door and when these same irresponsible people are faced with the truth all they can say is that their critics are “misinformed”, “unscientific” and “unconstitutional” blah blah blah crap. It’s also true when she says that the main culprits are male. You cannot compare a 18year girls being gangraped by HIV poz men to two hot young men wanting to get their rocks of after meeting up in a club but forgetting to use protection because it feels so much better or even asking if their conquest is free of stds…
You are such an idiot, nobody goes out looking to get infected, it’s everyone’s problem so stop offering your opinion on a subject clearly you no nothing about. Be careful, you might contract HIV when you least expect it Mr big mouth……then we’ll see what a big mouth you have. Such an idiot
Helen what happens when you contract aids through a Dentist -or on the operating table – you dont only get aids from your own sexual behaviour – can you possibly catch it in the Cape ? i know people that went into a government hospital had no TB – a test was done when she entered the hospital and guess what by the time she left she had TB , the other patients had TB in the same ward- so how can you possibly say how you caught the illness ?? thats why i wont vote – so Helen chew on it , another thing how do you know if your partner is having sex with someone else – do you know Helen ? are you sure ??? so dont judge people – if one is having unprotected sex i can understand to a degree some traditions wont allow safe sex and who says protected sex is safer – can one sue your political party because the condome broke ? is aids not from the pill or vaccines that women are taking from government institutions and passing it along in genes ? before women took the pill to prevent pregnancy aids was never heard of – how would you know Helen ? how someone contracts aids. so you know what – go feed the chickens !!!
That is why she says that people who get ill need to be questioned as to how they got ill, and if they are responsible they need to be encouraged to change their behaviour. She thinks it is unfair that people who make themselves ill demand free treatment with no questions asked, while innocent children who need treatment for other illnesses are denied treatment for lack of funds. This is unfair. That is all that she is saying.
As for the rest of your rant, I am amazed that you still don’t know how HIV is spread. Please, please contact “Health for Men” in Soweto, Cape Town or Tshwane and get informed. If you cannot do that, please google “HIV” and get informed. Ignorance is dangerous to your health.
All she is saying is that people who make themselves ill due their own irresponsible behaviour are robbing the State of funds that could be put to better use for those people who fall ill despite acting and living responsibly. Yes, she singles out men who have sex with men (among others). And, although the truth is sometimes hard to swallow, I have to agree with her. She has said absolutely nothing that could be labelled morally or ethically incorrect.
Read her article until you understand it. How could anyone disagree with her?
You are another idiot on here. You make such stupid comments too. What Zille has said is ridiculous. If you compare the burden these so called reckless HIV people you are talking about put on the system, I can tell you that it pales in comparison to the burden corrupt ANC officials are putting on our fragile economy. Let’s get our facts straight, it’s totally out of context, it’s not even 1% of the money that has been raped by GOVERNMENT. Unbelievable how stupid you are and Anton M. UGH
Believe it or not aids creates employment and financial gain for privately owned business individuals- someone that has a possible cure for aids – his treatment gets confiscated because its in contravention to the medical act what a joke – who is protecting who ? have a look at http://www.cure.co.za.- interesting website- once again she can speak for the Cape -some people are too poor to buy condems – her area has drug addict problems and alcohol issues that are promoting infection of aids and infecting other people every second of the day – her political party should be sued – is she part of the problem ? – does she sleep well at night so how can one agree with her , never mind vote for her – is she robbing the state of funds ? – dont worry i will be seeing her in the near future – i will tell her personally !! how can i forget – i cant wait .- she will be at a function that i will be attending – will give you her feedback in December .
wake up and smell the coffee – are you believing everything people are telling you – like reading the newspaper and believing it or agreeing with your doctor instead of getting a second oppion – aids is spread through sex , and by other means – have you seen a sterilising unit in a dentists practise – its called an autoclave it kills most not all diseases- full stop – one should look at possible preventative means and a cure.
who created aids ??? that is the question Helen – and a gullible public believe it is only from sex – what about people that get aids that dont have sex – they have aids – was it from an operation or from a medical institution – think about it – how many doctors get kickbacks to prescribe certain medication – a cheque every month – is this medication detrimental to the patient ?
Martin R – i happen to be a wise old man and no fool .its called life experiences – can you say the same ?
I still aspire to wisdom and hope to do so until my last breath. The day I claim to be wise is the day I will authorise my partner to place me in a mental institution. As for age, I am in my forties. As far as I know, age is a measure of time, not of wisdom, not of knowledge, not of anything truly valuable in life. Sometimes I act foolish: it makes me and my friends laugh. Furthermore, everyone has life experiences, so I can say the same to that. So how do I score?
should i say i love you? enjoying your debate- we should meet ? in the article preventable illness – how is Helen preventing it -?all i am saying is how do you get information out of a person that has contracted aids and was it irresponsible – how do you even know it was from sex – how can you prove this – so her idea is weak for starts – what is she doing to stop aids or is her article with a hidden agenda – plse keep in mind she was around during apartheid days – so whats your input ***
I think all she is saying is if people act more responsible, whether it’s with sex, eating habits or whatever, we will have a more healthy population and less people depending on state assistance. The questions about how HIV is spread, what Hellen is doing to prevent the spread and Apartheid seems irrelevant
Nix – understandable to a degree- people should try and be more responsible – how ever apartheid and aids is not irrelevant – she like others the church was around when it was going on – like the rest of the political gang at the time – if you duck responsibility dont come running to the public for your vote and if you do vote – vote for a party that is concerned that if you do catch aids by what ever means you might have been irresponsible or not – you can obtain treatment and the tablets -have you or helen known any aids patients or helped them- i have – one can not believe without treatment and the tablets they cant work cant feed themselves – they loose their jobs and the responsibility lays with the family or friends – on one occassion when the person had no family the hospital refused to take an aids test because the patient could not give consent -and could not obtain treatment – without friends he would have died- he is still alive and doing well today – compassion for other human beings without a price tag – how many people died because they could not obtain the tablets since the 1980 s- where was she- irresponsible behaviour towards apartheid and aids amongst others -she is the one to talk -she will never get my vote and she will never get the majority vote to become the State President in our Country South Africa.
This is no true liberal.Her true conservative slip is showing.
What she says is illogical,quite facile, unconstitional and totally without undersatnding of the issues of human sexuality. As up to 50 prcent of modern ilnesses are “self inflicted” our street will be strewn with the dead od the DA. This is shameful.
Epic fail Zille! Shame on you.
I understand the sentiment expressed by Zille! However, the reasoning, or logic, is very flawed. Many people are irresponsible, creating unnessary burden on a very exhausted budget. Also, while I am in agreement that prevention campaigns are vital, I am of the opinion that HIV positive people need to be targeted far more if we are to win the battle that is HIV/AIDS. Prevention messages places the onus of not becoming infected on the uninfected, without teaching HIV+ people that they have very large role to play. It also creates a further divide between the negative and positive, adding fuel to the myths, stigmas, etc. We are in this together! The buck has to stop somewhere! Because of the “HIV is a death sentence”, which is still very prevalent, some HIV+ individuals still have the “I’m taking as many with me as possible” mentality. It is still “poorer” black women who at the the forefront of the pandemic. I challenge anyone to visit an HIV clinic at their local hospital. The bulk of the “patients” are middle aged black women. This is an emotive issue for me….I have been HIV positive for 17 years, and have never, even when unemployed and battling financially, made use of state HIV services. It is already overburdened. However, if more HIV+ people can be involved, formally and informally, in HIV education and care, we might have a chance of turning the tide. I also think that we must not be under any false impressions about how HIV + people are treated at many state clinics. They face criticism, verbal abuse, and also lack of empathy. There is no sense of urgency when necessary, many of the health care workers are very uninformed, and driven by their own prejudices. It is dehumanising for many.
I agree with Zille. Too many people acting irresponsible and we as a nation should become responsible for our actions and stop running to governments to carry our responsibility. The argument given “It would mean cigarette smokers would not get treated for cancer. People who eat unhealthily would not get treated for type II diabetes or heart disease,” according to me is not relevant to the HIV epidemic. Compare apples with apples.
C’mon, Hels. You made a mistake, you know it. The reason I like you is because you are not like other politicians who can’t/won’t retract a statement made based on unsound logic. Apologise and move on… you have things like the disparity between rich and poor in CT to think about. No reason for this rubbish.
wow, this one is good, gonna use for another sport but i think it’ll be just as good, BIG thanks 🙂