|
Home > Archive > HIV Aids > February 2007 > Move Away People, Nothing To See Here, It Was All A Joke (REPOST)
You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread.
To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to
this thread please [click here]
| Author |
Move Away People, Nothing To See Here, It Was All A Joke (REPOST)
|
|
|
| It took them a quarter of a century to state the obvious.
And the exceptionalist reasoning for Africa is laughable,
and internally inconsistent. If heterosexual sex is not a
vector for transmission in the west, why should it be
in Africa.
The truth is, there is no epidemic, and that is that.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6321683.stm
Expert doubts widespread HIV risk
Intravenous drug user
Intravenous drug users are a key high-risk group
HIV/Aids campaigners are circulating "misconceptions" about who is at risk,
a former World Health Organization expert has warned.
Dr James Chin was head of a WHO Global Programme on Aids unit from 1987-1992.
In a new book, he says people in the general population outside Africa
are unlikely to contract HIV/Aids, as it is restricted to certain high-risk groups.
Campaigners have promoted a message of safer sex which involves
the use of condoms for protection.
UK experts said Dr Chin's views were inaccurate, and misrepresented
current thinking among HIV/Aids bodies.
Dr Chin says HIV prevalence is low in most populations throughout the world
and can be expected to remain low.
He believes this is not because of effective HIV prevention work, but because
infection rates are limited by the numbers in groups whose behaviour puts them
at high risk.
Dr Chin says it is only in sub-Saharan Africa, where unprotected sex outside
marriage is common, that the risk of heterosexual HIV transmission is high.
In other parts of the world, he says HIV is seen only in men who have sex
with other men, intravenous drug users and female sex workers.
And he says that, unless the clients or partners of people in these groups
also indulge in high-risk behaviour, the virus will not spread.
'Difficult to transmit'
However Dr Chin says these facts have been "minimised and ignored" by
UNAids and Aids activists because it is "politically and socially more
acceptable" to say HIV risk behaviours are present in all populations.
Writing in "The Aids Pandemic", Dr Chin says: "These activists do not want
to further stigmatise persons or population groups who have such high risk
levels of HIV risk behaviours and who are already marginalised.
"By refusing to accept the fact that HIV is very difficult to transmit sexually
without the highest levels of sexual risk behaviours, Aids programmes have
avoided labelling some populations as being more promiscuous than others.
"It is a much more socially and politically correct public health message to
say that sexual promiscuity exists in all populations and thus the risk of
epidemic heterosexual HIV transmission to the general public, or to
ordinary people can be prevented only by aggressive programmes
directed at the general population, and especially to youth."
He cited studies which showed the risk of someone in the general
population of contracting HIV from any single sexual act was, at
the highest estimate, one in 1,000.
And he says the failure to recognise this means that scarce public health
resources in countries where HIV prevalence is low are being wasted
on prevention programmes being targeted at the public, when it is the
high-risk groups who should be targeted.
'Disservice'
Dr Purnima Mane, director of policy evidence and partnerships at UNAids
said: "Without having access to the full text of the book, it is very difficult
for UNAids to comment on it."
But she said: "The Aids response has always invited a high-level of debate
and discussion. UNAids welcomes this debate and stands by its scientific
approach.
"Twenty-five years into the Aids epidemic has shown the world how the
epidemic has continued to evolve and how the response must also evolve.
Dr Mane added: "UNAids data is not influenced by political or fundraising agendas."
Lisa Power, head of policy at the UK's Terrence Higgins Trust said
Dr Chin's views may have been accurate 10 to 15 years ago, but
were not true now.
"He is overstating his case. Sub-Saharan Africa is not the only place
to have heterosexual epidemics and most AIDS activists no longer
espouse a one-size-fits-all approach to HIV prevention work.
"Some authorities are wrong to misrepresent their HIV epidemiology
in order to maximise public interest in the issue.
"But Chin is doing a similar disservice by misrepresenting current HIV
planning and thinking in order to maximise public interest in his book."
Ms Power said there was a need for campaigns targeted at high-risk
groups and more general information to ensure better public
understanding of HIV and sexual health in order to tackle the
stigma surrounding the disease."
The Aids Pandemic: the collision of epidemiology with political
correctness is published by Radcliffe Publishing at £27.50.
| |
| Steve Hayes 2007-02-06, 9:23 pm |
| On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 00:41:52 -0000, "Alex" <avdeelen.REMOFETHIS1@wanadoo.nl>
wrote:
>It took them a quarter of a century to state the obvious.
>And the exceptionalist reasoning for Africa is laughable,
>and internally inconsistent. If heterosexual sex is not a
>vector for transmission in the west, why should it be
>in Africa.
Who are "them"?
What "exceptionalist reasoning"?
Rest of article binned, because
a) the subject line indicates that it isn't worth reading
<PEDANT>
b) If you can't say clearly in the subject line and first paragraph what it's
about, it's probably not worth reading.
</pedant>
--
Terms and conditions apply.
Steve Hayes
hayesmstw@hotmail.com
| |
| Rahasya 2007-02-06, 9:23 pm |
| Alex <avdeelen.REMOFETHIS1@wanadoo.nl> wrote
> Dr Chin says HIV prevalence is low in most populations throughout the world
> and can be expected to remain low.
>
> He believes this is not because of effective HIV prevention work, but because
> infection rates are limited by the numbers in groups whose behaviour puts them
> at high risk.
Africa has a hugely prevalent high risk perversion. Dry sex. This make a
huge difference to the spread of all infections.
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/baleta1/
Unfortunately, public education in this regard wouldn't make us the biggest
potential market for .. anything.
As everyone that's at all informed knows, lesion-causing virus-permeable
condoms, extremely deadly poisons and unlikely abstinence are the entire
answer. Until, of course, there's a useless and possibly harmful vaccine.
Get with the program. Obviously with a scam this size, there's money to be
made. Invest in big pharm. Place a bet on who manages to pull off a PR
campaign to force their vaccines on schoolchildren. Maybe one of them can
convince us that with 100000000000 of us getting infected every minute or
so, we'd better just buy all their stocks of AZT and put it in our water
supply. Big money.
Love, however it looks
--
Rahasya
nospam_rahasya@meditate.co.za
|
| |
|
|