Comments on: International AIDS day

By: jet

jet — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 13:26:43 +0000

Randy said on his blog “Abstinence might well be a good ideal to encounter, but it surely cannot be the only ideal.” Why do you think Uganda’s only ideal is abstinence? What are the alternatives and what leads you to believe they are not already embracing those alternatives?

By: Eric the Unread

Eric the Unread — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 23:51:21 +0000

Twenty Major is worth reading.

By: Maria

Maria — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 23:10:12 +0000

Europeans shouldn’t get too complacent either. The UNAIDS AIDS Epidemic Update shows that in western Europe HIV infections acquired through heterosexual contact more than doubled between 1997 and 2002. The report gives a frightening global snapshot of the disease (though with some bright points) and is a free download. The EU and member states are pumping money into the Global Fund on Aids, TB and malaria – proper order – but so far the EU’s actions to fight the disease within Europe seem to be focused on the soft stuff; sharing information, calling for education, etc. etc. An action plan is expected next spring…

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 22:02:26 +0000

Joan Bakewell on NGOs and people with AIDS doing what they can in South Africa, and on Pieter-Dirk Uys and others accusing Mbeke of genocide. http://www.newstatesman.com/site.php3?newTemplate=NSArticle_People&newDisplayURN=200411220002 Gender inequality and AIDS in South Africa http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4052531.stm Violence against women not helpful http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/110189369389.htm

By: Randy McDonald

Randy McDonald — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 21:33:11 +0000

Actually, the effectiveness of Uganda’s AIDS model is much overrated. I blogged about it at http://www.livejournal.com/users/rfmcdpei/508111.html working from this article for the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,1310602,00.html Critical paragraph: “Beatrice Were, head of HIV/Aids in Uganda for Action Aid, agreed the [figure of 17.1%] was too high, but she said the official measurement overlooked women unable to reach maternity clinics because of poverty, remoteness or the war in the north. “I would say the infection rate is between 10 and 12%.”

By: kenny

kenny — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 17:30:47 +0000

some good news http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=17119

By: des von bladet

des von bladet — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 16:43:29 +0000

Credit where it’s due, for sure:

In an interview, one of the Vatican’s most senior cardinals Alfonso Lopez Trujillo suggested HIV could even pass through condoms.
“The Aids virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the ‘net’ that is formed by the condom,” he says.
The cardinal, who is president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, suggests that governments should urge people not to use condoms.

(Did the Vatican ever administer some remedial physics to this clown? The last I saw they were steadfastly declining to.)

By: BigMacAttack

BigMacAttack — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 16:40:02 +0000

http://www.heritage.org/Press /Commentary/ev102203a.cfm?RenderforPrint=1 http://66.216.126.164/lopez /lopez011403.asp http://www.townhall.com/columnists/richlowry/printrl20021206.shtml http://www.aidsuganda.org/pdf /Comments_on_ABC1.pdf http://www.nationalreview.com /comment/comment-solenni043003.asp It is the ABC program. Abstinence, Be Faithful, or at least use Condoms. Th emphasis is clearly on the first two and it looks like it has really worked in Uganda and that the most important component and difference is Uganda’s emphasis on the A and Bs. I cannot imagine not including one of the letters. The reflections of dogma regarding sex(and all behavior)and government’s ability to influence behavior that this type of discussion reveals are fascinating. I don’t endorse either extreme end of those reflections, sex is a sin if your aren’t trying to pro-create or sex is just a thang that people will do. But I think the first reflects a bit of truth in a mixed up way while the second is just wishful and selfish thinking. Maybe with X-Mas coming we should all think about $10 or $20 to help with preventing AIDS deaths.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 16:22:49 +0000

Catholocism and Big Pharma’s contribution to today; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4038375.stm New York, New York, so good they had to inject HIV+ 3 month old children with experimental drug cocktails. Civilised world.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 16:03:55 +0000

To get back to linking and away from fighting: For more depressing news, look at: http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/12/01/002.html The basic summery: In Russia- disaster about to happen, no money spent on issue. (AIDS in Russia has spread mostly through drug users, it’s thought, but has had a huge spread there, and is likely to spread like mad in other populations too, since condom use is very, very low, even among the “middle class” and well educated. Good sex ed is perhaps even harder to come by than in the US.

By: Jason Kuznicki

Jason Kuznicki — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 15:43:28 +0000

I suspect I’ve read many of the same documents you have, Jet. My conclusion is that the U.S. conservatives are misreading Uganda, which clearly does promote condom use in the heterosexual population. If such a program were tried in the United States, you can bet that Robertson et al would attack it. So you’re right—you’re not getting an apology. As to your conclusions about poverty being the root of AIDS, I actually quite agree with them. One of the best things the U.S. could do to fight global AIDS would be to end its domestic agricultural subsidies, allowing African agriculture to compete better on the world market.

By: jet

jet — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 15:06:54 +0000

Chris, I’d hate to have killd the commenting/debating on such an important issue, so maybe it would serve some good to just remove all my comments as they are a bit off putting upon rereading them.

By: jet

jet — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 14:53:36 +0000

This is sure to fire up a storm, but this article: http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/977BD288-6F7C-40D5-951B-9CD08E72719C.asp seems to agree with reality that the WHO’s plan for combatting AIDS in Africa is not working and that deeper social changes need to be made. Since Africa isn’t Uganda and the Ugandan model can probably only be implemented in a few other nations, the real problem is poverty. The answer to African AIDS is cheap coal plants, massive agricultural subsidies, an expansion of subsidized education Visas to Western schools, and hard lined promotion of Democracy. Now that would solve HIV in Africa. Everything else is worse than useless. And in case you were looking for an example of “worse than useless” look at the ban on GM foods. How much money, blind children, and dead people did that BS cost?

By: Chris Bertram

Chris Bertram — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 14:49:38 +0000

Jet: that’s 7 comments from you out of 15. Perhaps we could agree that you’ve reached your quota.

By: jet

jet — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 14:41:51 +0000

Jason, Sorry, I couldn’t wait for a response, work is slow and I wanted to go ahead and prove my point. Uganda is certainly not the poster child of the WHO and the left. Pat Roberston was fundamental in shaping the abstinence included anti-HIV program in Uganda according to the American Anthropological Association. http://www.aaanet.org/press/an/infocus/hivaids/0310_feldmanaids.htm “Uganda’s program is presicely the kind that social conservatives usually like to attack, despite its effectiveness. ” Does anyone think I’ll hear an apology? Bush and Pat Roberston think Uganda is good, WHO and AAA think it is bad. Now can we please start having the real debate over what needs to be done and stop squabling over history?