PHD ministries leader prophet Magaya says he has discovered a cure for HIV. Speaking at a service cum press conference the PHD leader announced to his congregants that he has discovered Aguma which cures HIV. Foreign journalists from Zambia, South Africa, Swaziland and Ghana were among those who got a chance to ask the prophet questions. In this article we comment on the questions that were asked. They included question about the, composition of the drug, cost, safety and efficacy of the drug.
What Is Prophet Magaya's HIV Cure?
The HIV cure of prophet Magaya is composed of herbs. According to him two years ago, he prophetically discovered one herb from Zimbabwe and another from Mozambique. They are said to have been shown to contain phyto-chemicals which fight HIV. Prophet Magaya added his cure is also effective against cancer. When asked about the exact identity of the components of the drug Magaya refused to reveal exact identity. In his defence he mentioned that it was not uncommon for drug manufacturers to not name the constituents of drugs. This is however untrue.
It is not clear why the identity of the herb is still being kept a secret when in fact prophet Magaya claims that he has already patented the herb. An attempt to search the deeds office in Zimbabwe before publishing of this article failed as the deeds website returned an error. But the decision by the prophet to keep the identity of the herb private is contradictory. Surely as the prophet was freely given this revelation one would intuitively expect him to be eager to share freely. More importantly opening up the identity would allow other researchers to validate or invalidate whether the drug is safe and efficacious against HIV and or cancer.
Is Prophet Magaya's HIV Cure safe and effective?
Asked about whether the drug has been tested on humans prophet Magaya answered affirmative. But he skated the question of how many patients had been tested. He also went on to say that patients placed on this treatment started to show increases in CD4 after two weeks. In contrast patients placed on ART will normally have their CD4 count and or viral load followed up after 3 - 6 months. the evidence described by prophet is far from satisfying the requirements for demonstrating safety and efficacy of a medicine.
It seemed even Magaya himself was sensing that not enough testing of his new drug has been done as he started to tell about plans to involve the ministry of health. he claimed that he has already discussed with the Minister of Health, Dr Obadiah Moyo about the matter. he said that they had identified that in Murehwa there were 29 000 PLHIV whom they would like to donate the drug. If such discussions have been held, curiously they have been left out of mention in press release by the ministry of health today (29/10). It is also unlikely that the minister of Health knowing the steps involved in getting a drug from discovery to the market would have agreed with the plan of PHD ministries.
How has government been involved in this discovery process?
Journalists also wanted to know how PHD ministries have involved the government in the drug discovery process. The truth is that government was not involved. But there are at least two ways in which government should have been involved. First is the regulation issues whereby government through the ministry should have been consulted on the proper process of bring this drug to the market. The second which is more important is about the conservation of biodiversity. Exploitation of this herb for medical purposes if not regulated may in the long term threaten this herb's species. Further the people in the area where the herb is extracted somehow need to benefit from the extraction of the herb from their are lest we have a repeat of the plight of the Chiadzwa area villagers. Involving government in this process would have ensured that questions of sustainability and beneficence are sufficiently addressed.
How will this drug be marketed
Prophet Magaya explained that members of his congregation, who he called his children will be the ones distributing the drug. He announced plans for PHD ministries to train congregants before they could go out and sell the drug. The training is planned for Saturday 3 November. He also announced that an app has been developed which will serve as a selling platform plus a support structure. A user is able to send a message to the support team, the team will ask for the symptoms of the patient and assign a distributor closest to the place of living of the patient.
Future plans for Magaya's HIV cure?
Magaya informed journalists and congregants that he has a license to run a clinic. His plans are to build a clinic and perhaps the biggest laboratory in Africa which will be used for following up patients and doing further research on the drug. While these plans are certainly forward one would have liked to hear about plans to partner with research teams at the University of Zimbabwe and in the region.
Conclusion
Here we reported on the announcement of new HIV cure in the form of two herbs by prophet Magaya. The announcement was characterised by a crusade type euphoria by his followers but there is also reason to be concerned. HIV is a serious health problem especially in sub Saharan Africa. It means the search for a cure is an important priority for the region. However we cannot become recklessly desperate for the cure so as to negate time honored pathways for discovery, testing and introduction of new drugs. Although tedious and certainly costly these time honoured pathways ensure that patients are not endangered by substances that are purported to help them. Together with the ministry of health we urge patients to not leave their ART medications for these new hype drugs. Patients should also discuss any plans to try this medicine with their doctor.
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