Africa and AIDS
January 16th, 2009
I’ve said before how AIDS is one of the first things that pops to mind when you think about the black continent. Truth is, not nearly enough people, in first world or third, know the right facts about HIV and AIDS. We’ve been cautioned by our Harvard educated friends to watch out for mosquitoes as they too transmit the virus, and an ocean away, the current leader of the most developed country in Africa, South Africa, publicly admitted that he wasn’t at all worried about having unprotected sex with an HIV positive woman because he simply took a shower afterwards.
We are asked if we see AIDS on the streets of Africa. We haven’t. I’ve been to places where AIDS literally walks the streets in its skin-and-bone devastating triumph over the human body, and we don’t see it here. We see poverty, we see disease, but we don’t see HIV and AIDS. It’s not even spoken of. The visibly sick don’t leave home and their family and friends are ashamed to speak of it. Asking and talking about it is rude.
Ridiculous myths like intercourse with a virgin being the ultimate cure, and simple lack of education, are the strongest allies of the virus. Its biggest enemies are condoms and knowing the facts. African television is plastered with ads calling for frequent testing (only $2.5) and fidelity (like the hip little ad below), but the peculiar mix of African tribal culture and strong religious influence from the colonizers have created a world where having multiple sex partners is a thing of the ordinary, but sex itself is shameful.
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