Zimbabwe arrests U.S. health workers for distributing AIDS drugs

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe – On a trip to distribute AIDS medication to the poor in Harare, five Americans, including two doctors, two nurses, and an organizer, were arrested on Thursday on charges of operating without proper medical licenses and dispensing medicine without the supervision of a pharmacist. A Zimbabwean doctor assisting the Americans was also arrested on related charges.

They are expected to appear Monday before a magistrate in Harare.

The Americans are being held in poorly ventilated cells at the Harare Central police station. They were supposed to appear in court on Saturday, but the police said that they had not finished the paperwork.

The group was in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Allen Temple Baptist Church of Oakland, California, which has sent its members to Zimbabwe three or four times a year since 2000 to distribute antiretroviral medicine, vitamins, clothing and food baskets to people with AIDS. The doctors and nurses were sent on this trip to provide care in the capital of Harare and at the Mother of Peace Orphanage in Mutoko.

Jonathan Samukange, the lawyer in Zimbabwe representing the detained workers, said they have proper licenses and were only supervising a pharmacy that mainly gave out AIDS medications.

The church said that “there’s been some kind of miscommunication.” Reverend Theophous Reagans, minister of global missions at Allen Temple Baptist Church, said, “We’ve always had a good relationship with authorities and people.” He added that people in the Harare area have indicated that the group is in good spirits and have food and water.

Reagans identified the four Allen Temple volunteers as Dr. Anthony Jones, nurses David Greenberg and Gregory Miller, and Allen Temple Baptist Church AIDS Ministry administrator Gloria Cox-Crowell.

Zimbabwe has among the worst HIV/AIDS rates in the world. The decline of the public health system has been blamed on President Robert Mugabe’s policies. Most people in need are unable to receive help.

The team had brought with them a four-month supply of antiretroviral drugs for AIDS patients, some of them orphaned children.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Church: American medical team hopes to be released in Zimbabwe – 13 September 2010

Reuters Africa – Zimbabwe holds 4 US health workers over AIDS drugs – 12 September 2010

Associated Press – Zimbabwe arrests 5 Americans over licensing – 11 September 2010

New York Times – American Doctors Held in Zimbabwe – 11 September 2010

NPR – US Church Wants To Resume Zimbabwe AIDS Work – 11 September 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive