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Developments:
Hlabisa hospital, which looks after a district where over 20% of adults are infected with HIV, has been refused permission to begin its antiretroviral drug program. The South African Government has pledged to provide ARVs to those who need them, but hospitals must be accredited first. One of the criteria for accreditation is the hiring of a dietician. Patients can begin and continue antiretroviral programs perfectly well without a dietician's assistance, and trained dieticians are extremely scarce (six hospitals in this region currently share one). The Government, however, whose Health Minister recently recommended that those infected with HIV eat spinach, beetroot, garlic and olive oil to boost their immune systems, is sticking to its lethal "poverty causes AIDS" agenda and making AIDS patients wait for their treatment.
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