What is the prevalence of AIDS/HIV in The Gambia? Given the magnitude of the
socio-economic effects of an epidemic as Zimbabwe's as well as other east
African countries is it conceivable to legislate behaviour in the interest
of the common good of society as a whole. A place that comes to mind is
Singapore. (I know this sounds very authoritarian, particular coming from
someone who respects the civil liberties of individuals). From my
understanding of social behaviour at least in the Senegambia region, it does
not seem individuals are close to being responsible when it comes to their
sexual practices, despite all the hypocrisy about being devout and
practicing muslims and christians. The adulterous behaviour of husbands
(some with multiple wives already) and wives, with the not so infrequent
stories of 60yr old men impregnating 17yr and 18yr old high school girls
since to be common knowledge to most people. These so called "accident"
pregnancies suggest that these adulterers don't seem to use much in the form
of protection.
>From: AIDA A FALL <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [naijanews] AIDS: et tu Zimbabwe? (fwd)
>Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 01:22:08 -0400
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 15:03:44 -0400 (EDT)
>AIDS: et tu Zimbabwe? (fwd)
>
>
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 11:00:16 EST
>Subject: [naijanews] AIDS: et tu Zimbabwe?
>
> Tuesday, May 11, 1999 Published at 23:22 GMT 00:22 UK
>
> Zimbabwe struggles against Aids onslaught
>
> The disaster in Zimbabwe is far worse than anyone
> expected
>
> By Evan Davis, BBC television's Newsnight
> economics correspondent, in Zimbabwe
>
> I thought I already knew all I needed to about the impact
> of HIV and AIDS in Africa.
>
>
> Certainly I knew it was a human
> catastrophe, that the virus was
> running through populations on a
> scale unknown in the West, in an
> area of the world ill-equipped to cope.
>
> But it was only when a British businessman with
> extensive experience in Zimbabwe described to me
> some of the practical effects the illness is having on
> society there, that I decided I should find out more.
>
>
> Zimbabwe now has the
> dubious honour of being the
> world's most infected country
> - about a quarter of the adult
> population is HIV positive. In
> many urban areas, infection
> runs to 40%. In the army, it
> is more like 80%.
>
> Life expectancy at birth, on
> one estimate, is poised to fall
> to 38 years. The country
> suffers from having an
> economy advanced enough
> for the virus to spread, in particular, on relatively
> good roads - epidemiologists have tracked high HIV
> prevalence along the main freight routes.
>
> Alas, the economy may be strong enough to help HIV,
> but it is not strong enough to fight it. Zimbabweans
> cannot get modern anti-retroviral drug combinations
> because in Zimbabwe, the annual health budget is about
> stlg5.50 per person, enough to finance a modern drug
> regime for about five hours a year.
>
>
> The effect of HIV on the
> country mirrors its effect on
> individuals. In the absence of
> treatment, a typical HIV
> patient has a relatively
> normal life for six for seven
> years in Africa, before
> succumbing to
> life-threatening AIDS
> symptoms.
>
> So it has been with
> Zimbabwe - HIV infection
> spread rapidly between 1991
> and 1996 - but the country
> was able to function for several few years before
> HIV-related deaths started occurring in earnest. But that
> gruesome new phase is now underway, with profound
> effects.
>
> Grim turning point
>
> We visited a large cemetery outside Harare - one of the
> guards told us that the rate bodies arrived had increased
> markedly in December 1997 - "too much nightclubbing," he
> explained.
>
> Now, across the country, among a population about
> twice the size of that in London, an HIV death occurs
> every few minutes. Indeed, in some areas, HIV appears to
> have reached a grim turning point, in that the number of
> deaths is outstripping the number of new infections,
> taking the overall level of HIV prevalence down.
>
>
> The human effect of the
> disease is obvious, the social
> and economic effects subtle,
> but real.
>
> Although the combined
> effects of stigma, denial, and
> confusion with other
> manifestations of poverty
> make HIV a difficult subject
> to discuss and analyse in
> Zimbabwe, it is clear that
> within households and
> workplaces, the disease is
> affecting the ability of Zimbabwe to look to and think
> about its future.
>
> For example, school attendance suffers, as sick parents
> cannot afford school fees, or require their children to
> look after them at home.
>
> Pay-outs threat
>
> Saving and investment suffer, as households burn up
> their slim reserves to survive in the absence of a
> breadwinner.
>
> The financial sector malfunctions - as it attempts to
> protect itself from the potentially crippling impact of
> HIV-related pay-outs for the sick and disabled, by
> preventing individuals from buying a significant amount
> of life insurance. Negative HIV tests are pre-requisites
> for significant cover, but 80% of those wanting life
> insurance decline to take the test.
>
>
> In the workplace, costs have
> risen, with absenteeism,
> higher staff turnover, and less
> incentive to train - how can
> you afford to train staff if they
> could be ill within months?
>
> In the countryside, the
> burden of 'returnees' -
> individuals who migrate to the
> towns to get work, who get
> sick and then go back to
> their village to die - and the
> catastrophe of the
> ever-growing number of orphans is forcing social change.
> In some places, communal land has been set-aside simply
> to provide for the children.
>
> No one likes to say it, but the impact of HIV is
> particularly deep because unlike most health disasters to
> befall Africa, this one is killing the strong, the
> parents, the productive, the very people on whom
> functioning societies inevitably rely.
>
> Worst fears
>
> It even sometimes most affects the more skilled and
> better trained. It was explained to me that they have had
> more time, energy and cash to spend to get themselves
> infected.
>
> All in all, in Zimbabwe it is a disaster far worse than
> anything anyone expected at the time the worst fears of
> HIV were being discussed.
>
> Zimbabwe is not a society without hope. People cope -
> there are "a thousand and one coping strategies" one HIV
> activist told us. Even people who are in denial can learn
> to cope, and people in Africa are more familiar than most
> with the need to cope.
>
> But still, the brave attempts of Zimbabweans to live life
> as normal in the face of a disaster unlike anything we
> could conceive, is both sad and impressive.
>
>Source: BBC
>
>
>
>
>
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