Bye, Bye Doctor Beetroot

South Africa’s new health minister asked scientists at an international AIDS vaccine conference to intensify their efforts to find an AIDS vaccine amid widespread gloom over recent research setbacks.

Health Minister Barbara Hogan said government policies over the past 10 years had failed. Her speech Monday marked a radical break in policy from her predecessor Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who had downplayed the seriousness of the epidemic, mistrusted anti-AIDS medicines and instead advocated garlic and beetroot as a remedy.

Hogan became health minister two weeks ago. Her speech Monday made it clear that she will mark a complete break from the policies of her discredited predecessor.

“We know that HIV causes AIDS,” Hogan told delegates. Her declaration marked the official end to a decade of denial embodied by former President Thabo Mbeki and his health minister about the link between HIV and AIDS.