Day 6 of Treatment - Anna

I miss the first part of the treatment - walk there along the seafront. It is quiet, noone on the beautiful beach apart from fishermen, fishing with lines. No fishing boats on this part of the coast. Golden sand, aloes. I remember how it was when I visited this coast as a child. The same beach and sand, but backed by little huts and grass-leaved shelters. Men selling spicy cubes of meat on the beach. Now, stunning high rise apartments, with immaculate sea front gardens, endlessly manicured. Away from the beach, elegant restaurants - Thai, Italian, Fusion. When I arrive, Alaena, Clive, Naledi and Tumelo are sitting on the sofa giggling into an I-phone. Children, all. “Death Row” announces Clive. He is not convincing.  I wonder if this treatment affects the brain.  Serious, they are not.

Actually, the treatmnet does affect the brian, but positively. Clearer thinking - the virus and ARVs, can affect the brain so that one’s mental capacity is imparied.

Today, everyone, except possibly Alaena, feels sure that this is working.  Naledi and Tumelo both had lovely dreams.

Alaena is very well. She cannot imagine how she could feel better, except to lose the last vestiges of Karposi’s that she has on her otherwise flawless skin. (Karposi’s sarcoma is a form of skin cancer which almost exclusively affects those who are HIV+). Alaena wants her flawless skin back.

Today, at the AIDS convention in Vienna, Bill Gates said “Right now there isn't enough money to simply treat our way out of this epidemic..If we keep spending our resources in exactly the same way we do today, we will fall further behind in our ability to treat everyone." And Bill Clinton said “In too many countries, too much money pays for too many people to go to too many meetings and get on too many aeroplanes to do too much technical assistance, Too much money is spent on reports that sit on shelves. Every dollar we waste a day puts a life at risk."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/19/bill-clinton-gates-aids-conference

Can we just get on with this???