According to some surveys up to a third of South Africans believe that they can ‘cure Aids’ by having sex with a virgin, even babies. The country has the world’s highest incidence of rape cases (one every 17 seconds) and the biggest number of people with HIV (close to five million).
Sangomas or witch doctors, who still enjoy a great deal of respect in South Africa, are often blamed for spreading the belief in this dangerous myth, which is also recorded in some other African countries, particularly in neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia.
By S Predrag, Johannesburg

Needles ‘spread 40 % of African HIV’
As many as 40 per cent of HIV infections among adults in Africa are attributable to medical needles, according to a new study. Researchers writing in the International Journal of STD & Aids said there are “millions” of unsafe injections on the continent, particularly among women during the period of childbirth. Up till now it has been suggested that sexual transmission of HIV accounted for more than 90 per cent of infections in Africa. For more details see PN 76, March 2002.
MEP’s vote down drug ‘advertising’
The European Parliament has voted down a pilot proposal to allow pharmaceutical companies to provide information on HIV, asthma and diabetes drugs directly to the general public. But Colin Webb, director of the European Coalition of Positive People (ECPP), said: “They seem to believe that patients are incapable of making sensible and rational use of the information that they receive on their treatments. There’s a basic fundamental right to information.”