The information on HIV and AIDS sparked off a huge debate and the President of South Africa Mr. Thabo Mbeki is asking scientist to answer coherently whether the science on aids is conclusive. He wants to know this so that he can make informed decisions about our health budget either to spend more on drugs, to treat the HI virus, behavioral education programs and a search for a vaccine or to spend our scarce resources on social and economic development and ultimately give the people of South Africa and the region a better chance of surviving into old age.

Evidence for the AIDS epidemic in Africa lie in the millions of people whose immune systems are compromised and who become ill with a group of diseases that have been bracketed as "opportunistic infections".

Diseases on the World Health Organization's list of AIDS-indicators have been around for generations, TB, Kaposi's, sarcoma, Thrush, Herpes, persistent skin rashes, certain pneumonia, diarrhea, weight loss and Cryptococcal meningitis. Some like TB were killing millions long before the advent of AIDS.