November 25, 2003
THE LEFT'S FAVORITE CULTURE WARRIOR:
Powell defends US policy on Aids: American Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the US is making a greater contribution to fighting HIV/Aids than any other country. (BBC, 11/17/03)
The US secretary of state also rejected suggestions that it was unrealistic to allocate one-third of the money to programmes that promoted abstinence from sex.He said: "Abstinence works, we know it works. If you're not actually transmitting the disease through sexual conduct, the disease will not be transmitted."
However, Mr Powell stressed that sexual abstinence was being promoted as part of a comprehensive approach to HIV and Aids that also included education, promotion of safe sex and condoms, treatment programmes and research into a cure.
"Abstinence is a good thing to teach young people before they're ready for the responsibilities of sexual activity," he said.
Colin, they hardly knew ye... Posted by Orrin Judd at November 25, 2003 1:32 PM
Well, duh!
Posted by: Sandy P. at November 25, 2003 2:02 PMHey OJ, did you see that artical in last month's American Spectator about how AIDS tests are so expenisve that they don't bother in Africa a lot of the time and just look at the patient to see if he looks like he's got AIDS. Because AIDS looks like a lot of other diseases and because many people in Africa are crawling with all sorts of horrible diseases anyway, there may be a big case of overdiagnosis.
Posted by: Governor Breck at November 25, 2003 5:00 PMDo you have a link--the caseload has to be overestimated--it's certainly not possible for that many cases to come from heterosexual sex--so that explanation might hold water.
Posted by: oj at November 25, 2003 7:10 PMMr. Judd;
It's not so clear that heterosexual transmission can't account for many of the cases. There are at least two differences between Africa and other areas that could create a much higher rate of heterosexual transmission, STD prevalence and female circumcision. Both of these are much more common in Africa and both make heterosexual transmission much more likely.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at November 26, 2003 12:20 PMMale transmission to females is easy enough, but the males have to get it in the first place and they don't get it from women.
Posted by: oj at November 26, 2003 1:39 PM