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Gambia: Controversy arises over Gambian HIV policy

BANJUL, Gambia, May 2 Medical experts are criticizing the Gambia government for asking human immunodeficiency virus victims to stop taking anti-retroviral medications.

The western African nation's government wants the HIV victims to, instead, try an unproven herbal remedy.

The HIV Medicine Association, based in Alexandria, Va., is urging Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to stop making "unproven claims that the treatment 'cures' AIDS." The International AIDS Society and the Society for AIDS in Africa have joined the association in expressing concern regarding the practice.

"There currently is no cure for HIV/AIDS," said HIVMA Chairman Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes. "President Jammeh is giving people false hope, while at the same time making them stop treatment that has been demonstrated to save lives. Any treatment that claims to alleviate this devastating disease must be subjected to rigorous scientific scrutiny." Kuritzkes added: "It is highly unethical to stop a proven therapy to try an unproven one. We are extremely concerned that President Jammeh would recklessly experiment with his people's lives." The HIVMA is an organization of more than 3,600 physicians, scientists and other healthcare professionals dedicated to the field of HIV/AIDS.