Wear a Red Ribbon Today!

—Lawrence Mbuagbaw—

The Pope said condoms ‘MAY’ aggravate the problem and did not make any claims to have evidence to support his statement. However, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

As usual everybody is after the messenger, and forgetting the message.

Let’s face it 85%, of HIV transmission is through sexual contact. HIV is growing because people are having more sex, heterosexual, homosexual, underage, illicit, married couples, you name it! He is just saying ‘less sex, less HIV’.

Abstinence protects from a behaviour that puts you at risk. Fidelity reduces the risk. A large number of cases of HIV are children and pregnant women, a domain in which the use of condoms falls short. Condoms have a strong place as contraceptives with a dual role. In Africa, unmet needs for contraception are extremely high, many pregnancies are unwanted. If people can’t use condoms for contraception, why do you think they will use them to prevent HIV, especially when millions of these people do not even know their HIV status.

The vast majority of people living with HIV are very poor and have less than a dollar a day. On average a pack of 4 condoms costs a quarter of a dollar. Nobody wants to spend more than a quarter of their budget on sex!! The logical (sad) solution will be to reduce the amount of sex you are having. People don’t even have food to eat and everywhere they go they are told to buy condoms. The choice they’ll make is more than evident.

Occasionally there a HIV programs with free distribution of condoms. For how long will this go on? And what do these people do when these programs end or when the local shop is just out of stock!! In some programs girls are told to go around with condoms so that they don’t get HIV if they are raped. Seriously, who goes out oh her home thinking, “Hmm, I might just get raped today!! Let me get a condom.” How can we possibly want to solve a criminal problem like rape, with condoms? I think we should recognize the limits of condoms.

Despite all the publicity and wonderful adverts and distribution campaigns, HIV is still looking us in the face. More money is poured in but it is not proportional to the results. With the present economic depression, funders are going to start vouching for less expensive techniques. Abstinence has always been more culturally acceptable in sub Saharan Africa and virginity used to be a requirement for marriage. Unfortunately, this is not the case nowadays. It may be a difficult practice in the modern world, but people have the right to know it can be done and that it works! You don’t have to buy or learn anything new. We should face the facts. Condoms are the easy way out, but are not always available, affordable or usable by people who need them the most.

I don’t believe the outcry following the Pope’s statement is justified. If we fear that he has a lot of power and influence, maybe we should side with him and make his message stronger, instead of contributing to the transmission of conflicting messages.

Sometimes instead of buying raincoats we need to stay out of the rain.

Lawrence is also a medical doctor and currently studying for an MPH at the Hebrew University in Hadassah.

Ms. Souadou N'Doye

ICASA 2008 closed on 7 December with a strong message: youth are essential in the response to AIDS in Africa, especially those living with
HIV. The closing ceremony began with a statement delivered by Ms Souadou N’Doye, a young Senegalese. She spoke on behalf of all young Africans and urged those in attendance to ensure that young people are involved in the design of HIV programmes.

She asked governments and partners to utilize the talents of young
people from each country. Without young people, she stressed the AIDS
response is incomplete. “All that is done for us, but without us, is against
us,” she said.

Professor Souleymane M’Boup, president of the ICASA 2008 organizing
committee, expressed his gratitude to the organizers and to participants
who travelled from all over the world to attend the Africa-focus AIDS
conference. He emphasized his satisfaction in knowing that all people
touched by HIV were present at the conference and had a platform to
express their concerns, from vulnerable women and sex workers to men who have sex with men and migrants. He said the mosaic of participants made this 15th edition of ICASA a success. Most importantly, Prof M’Boup said he realized over the past five days that “Africa is moving, and that
energy and hope are everywhere.” He closed by asking participants to
return home with one message – Africa’s AIDS response must be advanced.

The need for a focus on sexual minorities, the greater involvement of
youth, religious and military leaders and the urgency to improve HIV
prevention programmes have been running themes throughout the conference sessions. A cross-cutting issue was the need for long-term financing. This was identified as a critical aspect for human development in Africa and especially for an effective and sustainable response to AIDS.

The ICASA organizers used the closing ceremony to deliver a series of
awards to those leaders active in addressing AIDS. UNAIDS Executive
Director Dr Peter Piot, Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of The
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Dr Meskerem
Grunitzky-Bekele, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for West and Central Africa, were among those who were presented with an award from the Senegalese Minister of Health and Prevention, Dr Safiatou Thiam.

—

Zack for Wear a Red Ribbon Today!

As the adverts say, it all begins with you.

All you bloggers who have taken an HIV test, leave your mark here. It may encourage others to know that some obviously intelligent successful young people are doing the smart thing. It will also shock you to know how many “smart” people are just going about not knowing.

I, Petesmama did the needful in October, 2007. It was my long overdue first time.

Et toi?

HIV sufferers should be banned
Friday, April 13, 2007

The Australian Prime Minister has called for a ban on HIV-positive people entering the country.

John Howard said his government was investigating whether it could tighten existing restrictions to stop sufferers migrating to Australia.

Asked in a radio interview whether people with the virus that causes AIDS should be allowed into Australia as migrants or refugees, Mr. Howard said: ‘My initial reaction is no.’

He said there may be ‘humanitarian considerations’ in certain cases, and that he would like to take ‘more counsel’ on the issue.

‘I think we should have the most stringent possible conditions in relation to that nationwide,’ he added.

‘I know the health minister is concerned about that and is examining ways of tightening things up.’

Mr. Howard was asked about the issue during a visit to Melbourne, where the state health minister said this week 70 of the 334 new HIV infection cases reported in Victoria in 2006 were among immigrants who had arrived in the country with the virus.

Don Baxter, of the non-government group the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations, said HIV tests were among health checks prospective immigrants were given already.

Infection was already grounds for rejection on the grounds that an HIV-positive person could impose an unfair burden on the public health system, he added.
‘It’s very tight already,” Mr Baxter said.

Many countries, including the United States, impose restrictions on immigration and visa approvals for people with HIV, though there are often exceptions in special cases.

*************************************
I’d heard about these restrictions before but after reading that news article, it hit me that HIV/AIDS sufferers are still going to be treated with scorn and the stigma isn’t going to ever go away.

If they can be barred from entering a country just because they are HIV positive, then how is the western world going to claim to be fighting the disease when they give it an “arm’s length” attitude. It’s not like they will catch it thru a sneeze.

According to the article, the US only allows “special cases” into the country. I wonder what special cases these are seeing as it makes no difference when u’re infected. And they can’t be going for treatment because ARVs are now available almost everywhere. So maybe the special cases they talk about are the positive persons that are going to attend a cetrain conference on HIV prevention.

This is really absurd and pathetic.

-Cheri.

PS: Original articlae adapted from Metro News @ metro.co.uk. Additional writing below the stars by Cheri.