tailieunhanh - Nature Vol 448

President Thabo Mbeki claims that he asked for Madlala- Routledge’s resignation because she travelled to an AIDS vaccine conference in Spain earlier in the year without receiving the required permission to make the trip. But no one believes this petty transgression to be the real issue. The fact of the matter is that Madlala- Routledge’s direct and honest approach to AIDS and other health challenges had placed her on a direct collision course with both Mbeki and his health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang | nature Vol 448 Issue no. 7155 16 August 2007 nature Mbeki s mistake South Africa s government has removed the minister most closely associated with public discussion of the country s HIV epidemic. But it must stand by its promises to implement a fresh AIDS strategy. The dismissal on 8 August of South Africa s deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge sends out an extremely negative message about how seriously the country is taking its monumental AIDS crisis see page 739 . Madlala-Routledge was a driving force behind South Africa s first realistic national AIDS strategy which sets out proposals to cut infection rates improve diagnosis and treat the estimated million S outh Africans already infected with HIV. The plan was endorsed by the South African National AIDS Council on 30 April see Nature 447 1 2007 . President Thabo Mbeki claims that he asked for Madlala-Routledge s resignation because she travelled to an AIDS vaccine conference in Spain earlier in the year without receiving the required permission to make the trip. But no one believes this petty transgression to be the real issue. The fact of the matter is that Madlala-Routledge s direct and honest approach to AIDS and other health challenges had placed her on a direct collision course with both Mbeki and his health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Sidelined earlier this year by medical problems Tshabalala-Msi-mang has now returned to an active role in government and is again championing the tragically misguided idea that food products such as beets are more useful for treating AIDS than antiretroviral drugs. The deputy health minister who is a substantial political figure in South Africa in her own right says she thinks a factor in her dismissal was her speaking out on the shocking conditions she found in the maternity ward at Frere Hospital in East London when she visited it last month. Whatever the precise circumstances it seems clear that Madlala-Routledge is a victim of her .