African AIDS Epidemic: Made Worse by Political Correctness

Abstinence programs in Uganda and Ghana have proven successful in stemming the progression of this dreaded disease. So why do many in the United States oppose programs like this?

by Melvin Rhodes

One subject seemed to dominate U.S. President George W. Bush’s recent five-nation trip to Africa.

Although he discussed Liberia’s seemingly never-ending civil war and the constant threat of international terrorism, AIDS was the number one topic.

This partly follows the president’s initiative in donating $15 billion for AIDS in Africa, a decision you would think would be universally applauded. But in this climate of pandemic anti-Americanism, even American generosity is not appreciated.

Many cries were heard along the lines of "It’s not enough." An international AIDS conference in Paris a few days after the president’s African visit led to cries bemoaning the cost of stationing troops in Iraq when compared to the needs for more money to combat AIDS. "Just one day’s war costs would give us all we need for a whole year," said one AIDS delegate to the conference, speaking in a BBC World Service interview July 16.

That’s unlikely to be the case. The problem with AIDS is that it’s a bottomless pit.

As more and more people become HIV-positive and later develop full-blown AIDS, so the need for more drugs increases—at considerable cost. Even with the cheaper generic drugs now available in most Third World countries, the costs of treatment will only go up year by year. Added to which is the great irony of the administration’s generosity—the $15 billion will actually contribute to the spread of the virus!

How is this possible? Isn’t some of the money intended for education so that the virus will not spread so fast?

Well, yes, but—

The fact remains that the longer people with the HIV virus live, the more people they can pass it on to. If Western donors believe that education will solve this problem, they fail to understand the challenges involved when dealing with people in various cultures.

HIV virus not spread by sexual activity?

The subhead above—"HIV virus not spread by sexual activity"—is not the opinion of this publication or of this writer. However, it is the opinion of the leader of the country with the greatest single number of HIV-positive sufferers. That country also happens to be the most Westernized of all the African nations. With over 5 million people infected with HIV, South Africa’s needs will only worsen.

Neighboring countries do not fare any better.

Botswana has the world’s highest percentage of HIV/AIDS-infected citizens. At over 40 percent of the population, the very existence of the country is threatened. President Bush’s trip included visits to these two nations, emphasizing his concern for those with AIDS.

His next stop was Uganda. Greater attention should have been given to this visit, for Uganda is the first country in Africa to actually make progress in slowing the spread of HIV.
One of the worst-affected countries 10 years ago, with entire villages devoid of any adults in the peak sexually active years (15 to 45), Uganda tried a different approach.

Widespread ignorance of cause of AIDS

About a year ago, the World Health Organization claimed that only 4 percent of the world’s population actually understood what causes the HIV virus to spread from one person to another. In a continent rife with ignorance and superstition, HIV is often blamed on Western nations, with accusations that the virus has been deliberately spread to wipe out Africa.

On every visit I make to the continent, there is always somebody claiming they have a cure and are in negotiations with Western organizations to share it with the rest of the world. These "cures" invariably come from traditional healers (what used to be called "witch doctors"). The supposed cures all have one thing in common—they don’t work!

The 4 percent figure given last year shows the lack of effectiveness of most educational programs. A great deal of the $15 billion donated is for education. When other education programs (on hygiene, for example) have not had much success, why should we expect those for AIDS prevention to work?

If you can’t convince people simply to wash their hands to halt the spread of fatal diseases, is there really any possibility of changing their sexual habits? Sadly, the root cause of the rapid spread of AIDS in Africa is behavioral—sexual practices that only serve to increase the spread of AIDS.

Uganda, with millions of young people orphaned following the deaths of both parents to AIDS, started a simple "ABC" program that has had considerable success in that country. So much so that the West African nation of Ghana is now copying the same program. Billboards showing the ABC slogan are ubiquitous.

What does ABC stand for? Billboards read along these lines:

"A is for Abstinence before marriage.
"Be Faithful after marriage.
"Use a Condom, if you can’t.
"It’s as simple as A-B-C."

In Ghana they now have "virgins clubs" for young people. With regular meetings aimed at encouraging the further education of the nation’s young on the importance of abstinence before marriage, constantly reinforcing a simple message, the tide seems to have turned.

Why then, is so much ridicule directed at the U.S. president’s requirement that one third of the money donated be given for abstinence programs?

That’s a good question.

Perhaps part of the difference is generational. Many AIDS workers in the West are older people still influenced by the liberal sexual revolution of the 1960s. They are the ones who control the purse strings of international AIDS donors operating in Africa, and they are very dismissive of abstinence programs.

Yet abstinence programs work. Younger people have seen the consequences of AIDS, since many have lost both parents to the disease. They hate AIDS and they want to see an end to it.

The only way to bring about a total victory over AIDS is to follow the first two steps of the ABC program: Abstinence before marriage and being faithful within marriage. The "C" option is for those too weak for "A" and "B." Sadly, many of them will get AIDS, because condoms are not 100 percent effective against the spread of the virus. Thereby, they perpetuate a problem that could be history within 20 years, if only countries and their citizens would really put their minds and efforts into it.

Is more money really needed for governmental educational programs? The solution to the AIDS problem was given thousands of years ago in the pages of your Bible. It’s actually written in the Ten Commandments. The seventh is, "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14)—so simple, anybody can understand. Sex should be confined within the bounds of a committed and loving marriage between a man and a woman.

The apostle Paul adds to this in 1 Corinthians 6:18 with three more words: "Flee sexual immorality." Interestingly, Corinth was the New York, San Francisco, London or Johannesburg of its day—a very cosmopolitan city with all the vices known to man.

Yet Paul was not swayed by the "political correctness" of his day. He told the truth, adding the words: "Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body." Paul was warning about negative physical consequences for sexual relationships outside the marital union.

It’s a simple message. What are governments and AIDS organizations afraid of? Giving credit to God in the age of political correctness? Being too simplistic? That can’t be the case—it’s the only program that’s actually worked! —WNP

African Administrative Problems Complicate AIDS Programs

It’s not just ignorance and superstition that are causing the spread of AIDS in Africa. Administrative incompetence and corruption are also to blame.

According to the U.S. edition of Britain’s Financial Times (July 14, 2003): "Only two African countries in the past three years have taken up a German drug company’s offer to give an important AIDS prevention drug free to poor countries.

"Boehringer Ingelheim said only Uganda and Botswana had taken supplies of nevirapine for use in preventing mothers infecting their babies with HIV/AIDS.

"The low take-up of the Boehringer offer points up the fact that an effective response to AIDS requires strong political will from African countries as well as more funds and cheaper drugs" ("African Countries Spurn Free AIDS Drug," p. 1).

In a separate article in the same issue of the Financial Times, writer Alan Beattie explained some of the challenges: "The slowness and difficulty of delivering aid money in countries dogged by corruption and weak governments is well known...

"The US is highly sensitive to aid money being misspent. And the (Geneva-based) global fund (meeting in Paris mid-July) has run into its own problems during its short life, with bureaucratic squabbles in recipient countries about who manages its grants, along with the need to ensure that money is not embezzled...

"There are also doubts about whether AIDS treatment programs can work in poor countries with weak health infrastructure" ("AIDS Donors Ask If the Third World Can Spend the Money Well").

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