Why AIDS Education is Entirely Necessary

black scholar, black scholars, black professors, african american scholars,

This came from a newsletter someone forwarded me from a group called ASPH. I thought it was deep and relevant, since alot of people in the world actually think that having sex with a virgin will cure you of AIDS! Honestly, I do remember a documentary on a North Korean Leader from long ago (his name escapes me right now) who allegedly went decades without hardly ever taking a bath. When they asked him about this, the story went that he said "I cleanse myself through my women." What the hayell?



At any rate, here is the letter that came with the newsletter. Here is a link to their site.

A billboard in Lusaka, Zambia reflects efforts to counter the practice of some traditional healers in the area to prescribe traditional medicines and sex with a virgin to HIV+ men as a "cure for AIDS." The billboard was part of a campaign sponsored by the Partnership Against Gender-Based and Sexual Violence Against Children and Women in Zambia.

Photo submitted by: Dr. Sandra Crouse Quinn, Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Education Associate Professor, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH). Dr. Quinn took this photo in August 2007 while she served as part of an interdisciplinary delegation participating in a meeting with the Network of African Congregational Theology (NetACT) hosted by the Justo Mwale Theological School in Lusaka, Zambia.

Dr. Quinn and Dr. Stephen Thomas, director of the Center for Minority Health and Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice at University of Pittsburgh GSPH, were part of an NetACT, an association of twelve theological schools located in Angola, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, that met in Lusaka to consider the role of theological education in addressing the challenges of poverty and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This billboard reflected some of the conversation at the NetACT meeting, during which participants discussed HIV+ adult men having sex with young girls as a "cure for AIDS." When asked about the origins of this belief, participants stated that some traditional healers prescribed traditional medicines and sex with a virgin as a cure. To counter this belief, a campaign, including billboards and buttons, was sponsored. Later, in a rural village, Dr. Quinn and her colleagues saw a young boy wearing the button. The issue of violence against girls and women reflects the broader context of economic and social inequality for women in Zambia. According to the World Heath Organization, the HIV prevalence among females 14–19 years old is six times that of males in the same age group in Zambia. The prevalence rate for women in general is far higher than men. Mobilization for gender equality is essential to reduce the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS among women.

To learn more about NetACT, please click here.

For more information on the Friday Letter Photo-of-the-Month contest or to submit a photo, click here.