This grossly misleading.
Manto never promoted garlic, beetroot and african potato as a cure or treatment for HIV. She promoted nutrition.
She never denied anyone access to HIV drugs. Pharmaceuticals wanted to mug government with ridiculously priced drugs and opposed procurement of affordable generic drugs.
The HIV drugs being distributed today are the fruits of the fight the government at the time waged against pharmaceuticals.
The Harvard study youโre referencing was rubbish. There were no 300,000 people who died. StatsSA has HIV mortality figures for that period. The number of deaths were significantly low. This study was funded by pharmaceuticals that fought government because it refused to be swindled with extortionist drugs pricing.
The late Dr Mantombazana โMantoโ Tshabalala-Msimang (69)๐๏ธ๐๏ธwas a politician who served as minister of Health from 1999 to 2008 under President Thabo Mbeki. She is remembered worldwide and especially at home for her deeply controversial and unscientific approach to the HIV/AIDS crisis. She pushed nutritional โcuresโ such as beetroot, garlic, lemons and African potatoes, while blocking the widespread rollout of life saving antiretroviral drugs, which earned her the mocking nickname โDr Beetrootโ. Later research from Harvard University estimated that these policies were directly responsible for more than 300,000 preventable deaths in South Africa.
Her final years in office were dogged by relentless media exposรฉs, including Sunday Times investigations that uncovered allegations of heavy drinking, questionable hospital behaviour, and a criminal conviction from Botswana in the 1970s. On the positive side, she built a significant public health legacy by standing up to the tobacco industry, she pushed through tough restrictions on public smoking and a complete ban on cigarette advertising in South Africa.