The most taboo subject of all in Africa -- AIDS and abstinence.
From the media one gains the impression that the non-availability of expensive anti-retrovirals is the principal reason for the burgeoning AIDS epidemic. In fact, nowhere in any sub-Saharan country will one hear from the government that the people should practice abstinence as a means of combating the spread of the disease. This would be political suicide for the politician who dared suggest it because to suggest abstinence is tantamount to depriving the African male of his birthright which is to sleep with a different girl every night or whenever he pleases. And clearly, such a suggestion would be the equivalent of inflicting (yet another) genocide on the African continent. To my knowledge, Museveni, of Uganda, is the only African leader who has exhorted his people to refrain from sexual activity until marriage. A brave man indeed.
flynnfiles.com
>>President Museveni remarked that the goal should be "optimal relationships based on love and trust instead of institutionalized mistrust which is what the condom is all about."
In Museveni's Uganda, AIDS cases have declined from thirty percent of the country's population in the 1980s to six percent today<<
It is thus not surprising that profligate sexual activity is the norm elsewhere, and in children.
iol.co.za
>>One out of every three children is having sex at the age of 10, and 17 out of 100 will deliberately spread the virus if they know they are HIV-positive.
These are the findings of a comprehensive survey by the Community Information, Empowerment and Transparency (CIET Africa) in November and December 2002.
The study involved 269 905 pupils in Grades 6 to 11 in all language groups, across a range of schools and from all nine provinces [of South Africa].
Some of the other disturbing findings included that, at 18, two out of every three children had had sex. Two out of 10 pupils did not believe condoms prevented pregnancy or other sexually transmitted diseases.
One in 10 said they believed sex with a virgin could cure HIV/Aids, and one in 10 had been raped in the past year. Three out of every 100 pupils thought that girls liked sexually violent boys and one out of every 10 thought that girls who got raped, asked for it, according to the study.
The study further stated people were becoming sexually active earlier and belief systems about sex supported sexually violent and sexually irresponsible behaviour.
"It is not surprising that 43 percent of all sexual crimes committed on children reported to Childline, were committed by children under 18," the study reported.<<
One trusts that CIET Africa was suitably impressed with the "empowerment" of African children. |
