| AIDS is a global tragedy, striking Africa especially
hard. Rampant reuse of disposable syringes is responsible for as many
as seven million cases of AIDS in Africa alone. Substandard Health
care continues in Africa while AIDS spirals out of control. Public
health officials are reluctant to discuss this problem, perhaps in
fear that Africans will avoid critical medical care, such as inoculations
for malaria and other virulent diseases. The thrust of AIDS prevention
campaigns is on safe sex, and healthcare risks are critically overlooked.
In Libya, five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor were
arrested in 1999 and convicted of infecting over four hundred Libyan
children with HIV in a Benghazi hospital. Libyan prosecution, operating
at the discretion of infamous dictator Moammar Kaddafi, has maintained
at trial that the nurses conspired with the American CIA and the
Israeli Mossad to maliciously infect the children.
In this hard-hitting film, Mickey Grant travels to Kenya, Bangkok,
Sofia, Libya, Rome and London in an attempt to discover the hidden
truths. He follows the trail of syringes from hospital to garbage
dump, and then back into Africa's health care system. He interviews
leaders of the World Health Organization, Amnesty International,
government officials, the Kaddafi opposition, Bulgarian journalists,
medical scientists, and health care workers. We also hear from two
imprisoned Bulgarian nurses, the son of Moammar Kaddafi, and families
of the infected children.
Could these healthcare workers have committed this horrific crime?
Or, are they scapegoats to divert attention from institutional shortcomings?
Is Moammar Kaddafi ultimately responsible for this tragedy? Is syringe
reuse common in Libya and the rest of Africa? If syringe reuse is
spreading HIV, why is it allowed to continue? Bottom line, millions
more will continue to die unless the world health care community
addresses these issues.
Credits:
Produced, Directed and Photographed by Mickey Grant
Co-Produced by Jim Curtis and Cindy Grant
Edited by Jim Curtis and Mickey Grant
Music by Callen Clarke and Jamal Mohamed
Written by Cindy Grant and Mickey Grant
Story Editor - Ramona Dea Lucero
Art Director - Nick Curtis
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