Good riddance to Madame Beet Root

GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images

AIDS activists had reason to celebrate last Friday. South Africa's Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang -- the woman FP named one of the world's worst advisors this summer -- was fired by the country's new president. In a country with one of the world's highest AIDS rates, it was Tshabalala-Msimang who stated publicly that she did not support antiretroviral medicines and that a diet of lemon, beet root, and garlic could effectively treat the disease.  

Although South Africa's woeful AIDS policy hasn't been all Manto's doing, it's still good news that she's no longer at the helm. It's unclear how much health experience her successor Barbara Hogan has, but as one MP put it last week: "Anyone is better than Manto."