ABSTRACT
The AIDS pandemic reached its 25th anniversary in 2006 as the United Nations conference on AIDS met in New York in May. According to the UNAIDS report, globally, 65 million people had been infected and 25 million had died. Infection rates were falling in some African countries due to modified behavior among African youths. This points to the success of some of the communications programs in this chapter. Uganda and Zimbabwe were among the most successful countries with prevention programs. HIV prevalence –the proportion of the population infected – dropped by more than a quarter in these countries among people ages 15-24. The decline was attributed to increased condom use, less casual sex, and a delay in the beginning of sexual activity. Both men and women have reduced their numbers of sexual partners, but Adrienne Germain of the International Women’s Health Coalition, observed that Uganda would not have made such progress without condoms in the curriculum. All countries have not found success in the programs. Howard LaFranchi, in the Christian Science Monitor (5/31/06) wrote, “…many development and health groups focused on Africa are critical of U.S. policy. They say it favors a wasteful, unilateral approach instead of joining existing AIDS programs. Beyond that, they argue that U.S. policy harbors an ideological “abstinence only” bent in prevention work that undermines the widely favored ABC approach …” In the United States, AIDS is the leading cause of death among African-American women ages 25-34, noted Yolanda Richardson at the Centre for Development and Population Activities. Richardson said these infection rates are climbing, “we can say that our conventional strategies are not working because they are not working for women.” Half of all people with the virus are women as compared to 41 percent in 1997 and 35 percent in 1985. Austin Ruse at Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute said that the push for condoms is not working. “The world is flooded with condoms, but it doesn’t seem to have much impact on the HIV rate.” India has become the country with the greatest number of HIV cases, 5.7 million as compared to 5.5 million in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the African countries, with a population of 45 million people total has more HIV cases per capita than India with a population of one billion. A third of adults in Southern Africa are infected compared to less than one percent in India.
