By Jeff Koinange
CNN
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BANJUL, Gambia (CNN) -- At the only hospital in the capital of this tiny West African nation, a 3-year-old AIDS patient named Suleiman receives his daily dose of medication -- a murky brown concoction of seven herbs and spices served out of a bottle that once contained pancake syrup.

The boy is told a spoonful a day will make him better. His mother, Fatuma, takes the same concoction, as do several dozen other AIDS and HIV patients here. Adults take two spoonfuls.

"It's amazing," Fatuma says. "Two weeks ago, I was very ill, weak and couldn't eat without vomiting."

This has become the treatment for HIV/AIDS patients here since early January, when Gambian President Yahya Jammeh announced he had discovered a cure for the disease that has wreaked havoc across Africa. He made that announcement in front of a group of foreign diplomats, telling them the treatment was revealed to him by his ancestors in a dream.

His concoction has stirred controversy and anger among health officials who say the president's claims will bring false hope to the nation's more than 20,000 HIV/AIDS patients. They are also afraid that it could cause patients to stop taking the anti-retroviral drugs that have been proven to prolong life and improve quality of living.

One critic was Fadzai Gwaradzimba, the U.N. envoy to Gambia. She was abruptly kicked out of the country after saying on February 9 that patients should continue their normal treatment and that Jammeh's concoction be "assessed by an international team of experts."

"The U.N. system encourages all patients currently receiving anti-retroviral treatment to continue to comply with their recommended treatment regimens while the efficacy of the new treatment is being assessed," she said. (Read full statement)

The U.N. Development Program stands by the envoy's remarks. The World Health Organization has also been critical of Jammeh's treatment.
No formal medical training

Jammeh, 41, is a former army colonel who has no formal medical training. He wears white robes and carries a copy of the Quran with him in this mostly Muslim nation.

His degree is a high school diploma. But he claims his family has a history of healing people through traditional African medicine.

At the hospital in the capital, patients claim the president's concoction is making a difference to them.

Ousman Sow, 54, said he's been HIV-positive since 1996 and had been taking anti-retrovirals for the past fours years until he volunteered for this program.

Four weeks later, he said he's gained 30 pounds and feels like a new person.

"I am cured at this moment," he said.

Asked if he had any HIV symptoms, he responded, "No, I don't. As I stand before you I can honestly tell you I have ceased to have any HIV symptoms."

Patient after patient gave similar statements to CNN. But it was difficult to verify the authenticity of their testimony. The government claims to have scientific evidence, but it did not provide any to CNN.

Jammeh refused to speak to CNN for this report.

CNN also sought medical reports of the HIV/AIDS patients to see whether they are indeed on the mend. The material was not provided. The government would also not release the concoction to CNN for testing.

Gambian Health Minister Tamsim Mbowe, a trained physician with multiple medical degrees, defended the so-called herbal cure.

"I can swear, 100 percent, that this herbal medication His Excellency is using is working. It has the potency to treat and cure patients infected with the HIV-virus," he told CNN.

What does he have to say to skeptics?

"I will tell them, as a Western medical trained doctor with 13 years experience meeting different professors, meeting different colleagues of mine, I've seen His Excellency, my leader, coming up with herbal medications that are able to treat and cure patients with HIV-virus, which have been proven within all medical and laboratory parameters."

Health officials worldwide remain doubtful of these claims. Experts also say it's in places like Gambia that the poor and desperate will latch onto anything resembling hope.

"For a country's leader to come up with such an outlandish conclusion is not only irresponsible, but also very dangerous, and he should be reprimanded and stopped from proclaiming such nonsense," said Professor Jerry Coovadia of the University of Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa.




What does the house think?Even though they see him as the new clown idi amin,i feel the western scientists should be working with Jammeh and other such natural experts.You never know what you may find

I believe there is and there has been a cure for AIDS for long,but you see its all politics instigated by the western nations to keep the Africans from multipying in size,some years back during my NYSC days I served in a hospital and I was lucky to work under a man(my boss) who sold the HIV drugs,it was in form bottle and we sold it for #24,000 but I

pcmecom:

I believe there is and there has been a cure for AIDS for long,but you see its all politics instigated by the western nations to keep the Africans from multipying in size,

Story, story, story!

I have heard a similar story as well. And I have also heard that 419ers are chopping HIV carriers mugu in the name of curing them. So guys, beware!

Note that HIV drugs are free in Nigeria. Anybody who needs information about HIV should go to the following link and educate him or herself: www.nigeriahivinfo.com.

Please where is Vicjustice, our Honourable Doctor and a very vocal member of the house. Please your comment is badly needed here before someone falls mugu.

but what would a whole president gain by playing his poor citizens 419 when everyone knows he's a billionaire.what i am trying to say is that even if he cant cure aids,some patients have said they feel better or recovered.explore it and develop it instead of writing it off,it could even be an anti-retroviral drug

At the moment, there is absolutely no cure for AIDS.
Before i analyse on this subject, i want to first of all explain some basic facts to our knowledge about this deadly phenomenon, AIDS.
Many people mistake AIDS for HIV and HIV for AIDS, they also mistake TREATMENT for CURE; perhaps this misunderstanding misled the author of this thread, Pcmecon to assume that "there has been cure for AIDS".
HIV the H[/b]uman[b] I[/b]mmunodeficiency [b]V[/b]irus, is the virus that causes AIDS if not treated. This HIV is relatively difficult to contract, and yet, it's the most dreaded, and an estimated 40 million people worldwide are [b]confirmed positive of the virus (not to talk about the many more millions with unconfirmed cases).
There are treatments for the HIV virus, but still, no cure until today.
When HIV virus enters the blood it quickly penetrates certain white cells (called `CD4' cells or "T4 cells" in the body. The body's immune system fights back and temporally suppresses the virus which retreats until it's powerful enough to attack again.
This battle period between the body's immune system and the HIV virus usually lasts for one to four weeks during which some people may have symptoms that mimic that of mononucleosis-like symptoms.
Symptoms may include: Fever, swelling of the Lymph nodes, Headache, dry Cough, loss of Appetite, Sweating, profound and unexplained Fatigue, rapid Weight loss, Diarhea Diarrheag for over one week), and sore throat. Often times this can be mistaken as having the flu or another viral-type infection (cold virus; like fever): [s]Some people may develop skin rashes on the chest, abdomen and/or back.[/s].
These symptoms usually persist for several days, and then, the HIV victim recovers from them and would feel and appear like any other healthy person for the period of time while the virus is gathering up for intence come-back attack. Many people don't have any symptoms at all while some have one or two which might not be obvious.
Human has an everage of 1000 CD-4 cells which is liable to reduce as the virus progresses, so, HIV patients are adviced to see a doctor for check-up every 6 months, while the cells are being monitored: A patient would only start taking HIV drugs once the cells decline to about 500.
HIV can be treated to prevent the development of AIDS or at least, to slow it down. but there is NO CURE not until today. Scientists have done so far, but not so well as to find the cure or the vaccine: the most recent hope for a breakthrough is expected in "at least, 7 to 10 years time", but still, cures are not certain.
It's important that every body should do the HIV test because, the earlier you know your positive status, the better you stand a chance to prevent it from becoming AIDS: Patience with HIV can control it's development and can live normally. Remember, once it become AIDS, it's too late, even to take the drugs: the patient only prays for the mercy of death.
FACT: There are treatments for HIV, but no cure for it.
FACT: There is no treatment for AIDS and there is ABSOLUTELY NO CURE FOR AIDS

@ Pcmecom,
Your posting shows that you are not here to give any medical advice. It's all about the Benjamins (N24,000 Naira). You are just searching for HIV/AIDS carriers to dupe.

i also have some pawerful native medicin that is cure AIDS. contact me. Thanks