Letter From Toronto By Opiyo Oloya

Nkosi Johnson, A Candle In The Wind -- His death and that of many people felled by AIDS should remind us that this disease remains priority number one NKOSI JOHNSON, the twelve year old South African boy who fought an international battle against AIDS will be buried in Johannesburg later today after a memorial service attended by thousands of dignitaries and ordinary people alike. What he has accomplished in his short life by speaking out for AIDS sufferers worldwide, and especially in Africa, will forever be remembered in the fight against the deadly disease. Remarkably, in his tiny shell of a body, he managed to convey both the urgency and devastation of the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. It was not as if the world was not aware of it before. In fact, long before Johnson came along to steal the heart of the world at the AIDS Conference in Durban last year, the world was aware of the grim statistics. Of 5.4 million new HIV infection cases worldwide in 1999, over 4 million was in Africa. That same year, 2.8 million died of AIDS around, though 85% of that number was recorded in Africa. Moreover, of 13.2 million children orphaned by AIDS, 12.1 million are in Africa. The numbers goes on and on. What little Nkosi did was give a human face to the pile of dead and dying bodies. In so doing, he became the reference point for debate. Those battling big international drug companies pointed out that Nkosi, like many people living with AIDS in Africa, could live a normal life if only the drugs were affordable. The arguments over affordable life-saving medicines for the developing world intensified last December when it was revealed that the multinational pharmaceutical company Glaxo-Wellcome had blocked imports of cheap copies of one of its Aids drugs into Ghana. Choose life over profits, was the rallying cry that echoed in the streets of South Africa and in Europe. More outrage followed early this year when 39 pharmaceutical companies tried to stop the South African government from importing cheaper versions of AIDS drugs. The drugs companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, the world's largest supplier of HIV/AIDS medicines, U.S. firms Merck & Co and Bristol-Myers Squibb, Swiss group Roche and German group Boehringer Ingelheim, said the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act threatened their business. Last month, the case was dropped amidst much celebration in Pretoria and around the world when the companies agreed to work in a partnership with the South Africa government to provide affordable drugs to AIDS sufferer. All of this came too late for Nkosi Johnson, who slipped into a coma last December and never regained his faculties. By then, the perky child whom doctors had given only a few months to live when he was born with HIV, had done the most important work of his life, namely, to fight discrimination against AIDS sufferer. Nobody, not even South African President Thabo Mbeki who denies that HIV causes AIDS, could argue with him when he told the delegates at the AIDS Conference that AIDS sufferer are normal. "We are all human beings," he said. "We have hands. We have feet. We can walk. We can talk. We have needs just like everyone else. Don't be afraid of us." That pronouncement was spoken for millions of people living with AIDS including close to 770 000 people in Uganda alone. These were not words spoken in anger, but a simple truth that many have refused to accept. For example, in the early 1990s, Uganda was hailed the world over for being at the forefront of public campaign. The openness with which people spoke about AIDS was considered second to none around the world, even in media-savvy North America. And, to a great extent, the campaign succeeded brilliantly in bringing down the number of new infections. To date, only 8.3% of Ugandans are living with AIDS compared to Burundi and Rwanda (11%), Kenya (14%), Zambia and South Africa (20%), and Botswana (36%). However, the campaign has waned, slowly disappearing from the public eyes, giving false impression that the battle has been won. Worse, the public fights against AIDS reached an all-time low when it became an issue in the last presidential election. Apparently, from being in the vanguard position in the war against AIDS, Uganda has slipped backwards. However, Johnson's death and that of many people felled by AIDS should remind us that this disease remains priority number one. One can never take a day off to relax or bask in false glory. This is the time when governments throughout Africa including Uganda should be working harder to come up with new ideas for fighting the scourge. There is no other way around it. Ends