Deaths in many sub-Saharan African countries are now higher than they have been for 30 years because of Aids, according to a study from the World Health Organisation. While life expectancy is increasing in most of the world, it has dropped by 20 years in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
Pharmaceutical companies have come under attack from a Vatican spokesman who has accused them of ‘genocide’ because of their refusal to lower antiretroviral prices. In Croatia, an HIV prevention programme which teaches students how to use condoms has been criticised by bishops in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. In Belgium, however, Cardinal Godfried Danneels has urged HIV positive people to use condoms to avoid breaking the fifth commandment: “Thou shalt not kill”.
In his budget proposals, President Bush has recommended funding cuts to a number of HIV/Aids initiatives, including a $4 million cut in education and prevention programmes from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Bush’s solution is to strengthen intellectual property rights and patent protections, a proposal strongly supported by the Pharmaceutical companies.
Islamic clerics in Somalia have banned the use of condoms in the predominantly Muslim country. Citing Sharia law they have threatened to flog those selling or using condoms. Sheikh Nur Barad said that the use of condoms would increase adultery and those promoting their use deserve punishment.
Ibiza and other resorts are a major potential conduit for spreading HIV and other diseases, a study warns. A survey of Britons aged 16-35 pointed to around 60 per cent of those questioned always using condoms, while the rest said they sometimes had unprotected sex or never used protection.
“Not only are blacks and latinos more likely to have HIV, they are much
more likely to die of it. The tremendous advances in HIV/Aids treatment have
not been spread equally.”
Thomas Frieden, the New York City Health Commissioner
“The proposed criminalisation of people who have sex without telling
their partners of their HIV status is a very dangerous approach.”
Mark Heywood of the South African National Aids Council
“Tuberculosis is perhaps the greatest and most deadly opportunistic
infection associated with Aids. By tackling TB and HIV together we can have
a significant impact on improving the quality of life of people infected with
HIV, while also controlling TB and preventing new infections.”
Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS
“I have no doubt that Viagra and similar drugs have dramatically changed
the sex lives of some older people and that is going to be reflected in higher
rates of HIV/Aids.”
Rejean Thomas of Clinique Medicale L’Actuel
in Canad
“We will double federal funding for abstinence programs, so schools
can teach this fact of life: Abstinence for young people is the only certain
way to avoid sexually-transmitted diseases.”
President Bush’s State of the Union address
“I was given a girl of nine years to sleep with for a week. I took pity
on her but if it wasn’t for this disease I wouldn’t have slept
with her. I had to do what the elders said.”
A Kenyan man explaining to the Nairobi Mercury newspaper
that he slept with a young virgin girl to ‘cure’ his HIV
