An African Queen Visits

The queen of Swaziland and the country’s minister of health visited Los Angeles County’s largest AIDS center Wednesday as part of an unusual campaign to combat a disease that has devastated their country.

Health experts at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center led Queen LaMagwaza and her entourage on a tour that proved to be partly a fact-finding mission and partly a rally seeking support for Swaziland’s battle against AIDS.

The visit may signal a change in the way African nations are choosing to combat the epidemic, one expert said.

“This is definitely a deviation from standard operating procedure. . . . It is very proactive on their part,” said Bud Chiles, vice president of HOPEworldwide in Africa, an organization devoted to the prevention of AIDS.

Though it was among the last countries in southern Africa affected by the AIDS epidemic, today a third of Swaziland’s 1 million residents are infected. In 1999, the country reported 7,100 deaths from the disease.

During the hourlong visit to the clinic, Swaziland officials highlighted the dramatic challenges faced by underdeveloped nations in fighting a worldwide epidemic.

“We are still challenged with access,” because of geography and limited transportation, said Dr. Philetse Dalamini, minister of health and social welfare.

In addition, daily survival may trump efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. An infected mother may still breast-feed a child and risk transmission of the disease rather than see the baby starve, Dalamini said.

Swaziland leaders acknowledged the great need for community outreach and support in their country. Dalamini and the queen were particularly impressed by oral testing and peer counseling as inexpensive methods of coping with the epidemic.

But in a nation where the available clinics are overrun and medication is too expensive, they said, the bottom line is increasing resources.

The country, still plagued with infections such as tuberculosis and meningitis, will spend only $2 million of its $30-million health budget on AIDS this year, Dalamini said.

“Sometimes we know what to do,” Dalamini said, “but we can’t do it because we don’t have the resources.”

Most of the current funding is funneled toward education and prevention efforts, but Swaziland officials are urging governments around the world to lobby pharmaceutical companies for less expensive treatments.

King Mswati III, who was unable to attend Wednesday, recently expressed frustration over the disparity in AIDS funding that goes to developed nations instead of Africa, where the majority of those with the disease live.

In January, he launched an initiative to triple the budget for national health care in Swaziland and provide assistance to other African nations.

The fund-raising effort includes high-profile charity galas and a music CD featuring celebrities ranging from Elton John to Destiny’s Child.

In recent years, groups have become more aware of the need for a global effort to help African countries, said Rebecca Isaacs, director of policy and public affairs for the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, which plans to continue working with Swaziland.

“Working together here, we are already making a bridge from America to Africa,” said Queen LaMagwaza. “It gives us strength to know there are people interested in helping us.”