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WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)–The Nation of Islam’s Ministry of Health and Human Services has embarked upon a fundraising effort to pay for the first phase of an AIDS treatment program in Zimbabwe.
The initial phase of the project involves raising $63,600 to pay for enough medicine to treat 15,000 people for six months, at a cost of just over 25 cents a day, said Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, Nation of Islam minister of health. The planned alpha-interferon treatment is available from a licensed distributor but must be purchased by Dec. 1, to get the low price, he explained.
“The AIDS situation in Zimbabwe is so starkly defined that there is no ambiguity. So it’s not a question of can you help, it’s how much will you help,” said Dr. Muhammad. The country has an estimated 2.2 million HIV-infected people and more than 2,000 AIDS-related deaths occur each week, said Dr. Muhammad. To help ease suffering and save lives, the Ministry of Health has met with government officials and developed “The Zimbabwe AIDS Project,” a plan to offer Zimbabweans the inexpensive, but effective, natural treatment, he said. Dr. Muhammad has treated patients with the medicine for a decade. It is a good and non-toxic treatment, though politics has prevented its approval by the Food and Drug Administration, he said.
The Zimbabwe AIDS Project is the result of a July trip to Zimbabwe by the Hon. Minister Louis Farrakhan during his World Friendship Tour. Deeply touched by the plight of the southern African nation, the Minister vowed to try to help. After his return, a health team was dispatched to the country, led by Dr. Muhammad. The health team met with government health officials, observed some conditions in the country and developed a plan of action.
“Anyone who goes to Zimbabwe, as I have done, knows of the heroic fighting spirit of the Zimbabwean people. These are people who struggled for many years against overwhelming odds to win their independence from Britain. Then they had to fight again against the illegal Ian Smith regime, that was aided by foreign mercenaries with military support from South Africa,” Dr. Muhammad said. “Now Zimbabwe is challenged yet again, and the same fighting spirit is evident. But this time they have no weapons to use in their desperate struggle against HIV and AIDS.”
To contribute to the fundraising effort, please make checks and money orders payable to Zimbabwe AIDS Project, 717 8th St., S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003. For more information, call (202) 547-6440.
