Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - (Page 7) Quick Hits: Sex in the News South Africa’s AIDS policy caused 365,000 deaths Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, had long refused to acknowledge the dangers of HIV/AIDS. His health minister, Manto TshabalalaMsimang, believed the disease could be cured with garlic, beetroot and lemon juice. Other members of the African National Thabo Mbeki. Courtesy of World Congress, the country’s Economic Forum ruling party, convinced Mbeki that the disease was a white conspiracy designed to sell drugs and spread the myth that black Africans were sexually promiscuous. As a result, 365,000 South African men, women and children may have died prematurely between 2000 and 2005. That’s the conclusion of a Harvard University study published in the December issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Called “Estimating the Lost Benefits of Antiretroviral Drug Use in South Africa,” Pride Chigwedere, MD, and co-authors compared “the number of persons who received [antiretrovirals] for treatment and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission between 2000 and 2005 with an alternative of what was reasonably feasible in the country.” During those years, Botswana and Namibia were providing antiretrovirals to most AIDS victims (81 and 75 percent, respectively). Meanwhile, only 21 percent of South Africans in need of AIDS treatment were receiving drugs. Researchers say South Africa “declined freely donated nevirapine and grants from the Global Fund.” A New York Times report notes that Mbeki also refused free assistance from the Clinton Foundation. Max Essex, a virologist at the Harvard School of Public Health’s AIDS research program, called South Africa’s actions between 2000 and 2005 “a case of bad, or even evil, public health.” South Africa’s new president fired the health minister who advocated for natural remedies as a way to fight HIV/AIDS. Its new health minister is Barbara Hogan. “I feel ashamed that we have to own up to the Harvard study,” she says. “The era of denialism January 2009 Vol. 43, No. 1 | www.aasect.org is completely over in South Africa.” (New York Times, Nov. 25 and Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Dec. 1) Rape as a war crime A United Nations report to be issued later this year will document the effect of rape as a weapon of war in conflicts around the world. Thousands of Iraqis have fled to Jordan in recent years; many of them are rape victims who have been abandoned by their husbands. As undocumented refugees, they have no legal rights in Jordan and are sometimes abused again. Such is the case with Khalida, a woman who was kidnapped, beaten, raped and dumped on a Baghdad street. When her husband learned of her abuse, he disowned her. Neighbors shunned her. So Khalida and her children fled to Amman, Jordan. “I have his phone number,” Khalida says of her husband. “I dial it sometimes for the kids to talk to their father. Sometimes, because I love him, I like to hear his voice. But when I say ‘hello’ he hangs up.” Human Rights Watch and MADRE, an international human rights group focused on women, issued reports on the topic in 2003 and 2007. Human Rights Watch would like to study the issue again, but worries about the hazards its investigators would face. “There’s been a security issue, so we haven’t been able to get people on the ground to look at the issue for a long time,” says Marianne Mollmann, an advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. Rape has also been used as a war tactic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an African nation suffering from internecine conflict. “It’s a very effective weapon because the communities are totally destroyed,” says Major General Patrick Cammaert, former head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the region. “You destroy communities. You punish the men and you punish the women, doing it in front of the men.” The U.N. Security Council has passed a resolution condemning the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war because it “can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security.” (Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 24 and BBC News, June 20) continued on page 8 “[Rape is] a very effective weapon because the communities are totally destroyed. … You punish the men and you punish the women, doing it in front of the men.” — Major General Patrick Cammaert Contemporary Sexuality 7 http://www.aasect.org
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 Contents Member Profile Quick Hits: Sex in the News News of Members News from AASECT's Board of Directors Educational Opportunities Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Contents (Page 1) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Contents (Page 2) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Member Profile (Page 3) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Member Profile (Page 4) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Member Profile (Page 5) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Member Profile (Page 6) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Quick Hits: Sex in the News (Page 7) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Quick Hits: Sex in the News (Page 8) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - News of Members (Page 9) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - News from AASECT's Board of Directors (Page 10) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Educational Opportunities (Page 11) Contemporary Sexuality - January 2009 - Educational Opportunities (Page 12)
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