Malawi to ban HIV cure claims: New policy to demand proof
Malawi will soon have a National HIV and Aids Policy which will have a phrase that effectively bars religious figures from, among other things, claiming that they cured Aids or even administering such “cures.”
This comes at time when there has been a discovery of a herbal medicine, GARANI MW1, which is believed to be a cure for the deadly HIV and Aids pandemic.
Mchape, a traditional concoction in Malawi stormed the HIV cure scene with pomp, but disappeared silently in disgrace.
Many other initially promising but ultimately doomed pretenders to the cure for HIV have come and gone, but the elusive conqueror of the devastating virus remains well beyond the horizon.
Humprey Mdyetseni, deputy director responsible for planning, research and evaluation in the Department of Nutrition, HIV and Aids, said the new and upcoming National HIV and Aids Policy will demand herbalists, diviners, seers, soothsayers and anyone who thinks they have a cure for HIV will to prove it first before being allowed to administer and claim as such.
“The policy will ensure that certified and proven forms of HIV and Aids, STIs [sexually transmitted infections] and TB [tuberculosis] medication, treatment and cure are administered to individuals, sections or groups of populations within the boundaries of Malawi,” reads a section of the policy.
Mdyetseni said the policy seeks to deal with people who make claims about HIV cures without scientific proof.
Meanwhile, Gloria Jeremiah, the one behind GARANI MW1 is the woman of the moment in Malawi with her HIV ‘cure’.
Jeremiah, currently studying Master of Public Health at College of Medicine specialising in epidemiology, said that apart from curing the HIV, the herbal medicine has been found to cure other health related problems such as hormonal imbalances, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, amenorrhea dysmenorrhea, leukaemia, skin problems among others.
