The German doctor has set up shop in Khayelitsha, the township with the highest prevalence of HIV/Aids in the Western Cape, and has been handing out his multi-vitamin treatment free to HIV-positive people, claiming that it can reverse Aids and signals 'the end of the Aids epidemic'.
Fairlady takes a comprehensive look at Rath's past, his work, his relationship to government as well as the controversy surrounding his multi-vitamin treatment.
The article tracks the infamous doctor's record from the United States, where he arrived in 1990 with a multi-vitamin treatment he claimed could eradicate cardiovascular disease, across to Europe where he peddled cancer-curing vitamins before warnings from several health bodies made him set his sights on South Africa.
Freelance journalist, Pearlie Joubert, interviewed twelve HIV-positive people living in Khayelitsha, some on ARV treatment, other's taking Rath's multi-vitamins, all confused by the political authorities' inexplicable silence and ambiguous reactions and contradicting information from all sides. She spoke to Rath's converts as well as several organisations and individuals who are concerned about the doctor's unsubstantiated claims, his unauthorised clinical trials on HIV sufferers and why our government is seemingly embracing him.
The article gets the official response from organisations including the Medicines Control Council (MCC), the Health ministry, the SAPS, the SA Medical Association (SAMA), the Health Professions Council of South Africa, Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).
