desmond tutu glad that obama’s black

As if he is intentionally pursuing my vote, Sen. Barack Obama announced today that he will publicly take an HIV test while on his trip to Africa. I found out about his trip to Africa while attending the Microbicides briefing on the Hill (which was exciting enough), yet I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that he would also be taking an HIV test. This is huge news for Africa. The continent is under siege by this disease. At the end of 2005, an estimated 24.5 million people were HIV positive and approximately 2.7 million infections were new that year. In the past year, more than 2 million people have died and there are now over 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa.

In addition to taking the HIV test, Obama denounced South African president Thabo Mbeki and his AIDS policies. Mbeki, known for succeeding Nelson Mandela as president, has directly contributed to South Africa’s AIDS crisis. South Africa has the largest number of HIV positive people in the world (5.5 million). Additionally, 30% of pregnant women in that country are HIV positive. Mbeki has declared that HIV does not cause AIDS and has stated that AZT actually accelerates disease progression. As a result, the government has delayed the administration of AZT to pregnant positive woman to prevent the vertical transmission of HIV (transmission from mother to child). Obama, in his statement, said there was an “enormous” amount of denial about AIDS in S. Africa and the government was partly to blame. He also said that the government needs to do more to fight the disease.

Back to the HIV test, Obama will be visiting his late father’s home village in Kenya and will take the test there. According to Obama, he is taking the test to help dispel the stigma surrounding the virus that persists in many African countries. His attempt to call attention to this serious problem is admirable. In my opinion, his actions could only help the cause.

Obama met with AIDS activists and Bishop Desmond Tutu yesterday while in S. Africa. Tutu appeared to be impressed with Obama. Acknowledging his possible future candidacy for president, Tutu said, “You're born to be a very credible presidential candidate. I hope that I would be equally nice to a young white senator, but I'm glad you are black." I wish I knew the context of this statement. But I think it’s safe to assume that if George Allen were to visit Africa and get an HIV test in Kenya, it wouldn’t have quite the same impact (Allen seems to be the dems’ punching-bag-of-the-moment so I had to pick on him).

Obama’s timing really couldn’t be better. The International AIDS Conference just wrapped up in Toronto and AIDS is still fresh in everyone’s minds. Additionally, the test addresses Africa’s AIDS crisis, which was quite the focus at the conference (as well as women’s and children’s issues with prevention and treatment). In my opinion, his actions could only help HIS cause.