One of the things that have weakened the fight against HIV/ AIDS is the use of the illness in propaganda wars.
I was aghast when Zimbabwe's aids figures increased by 700% shortly after Mugabe started the Land Reform program that saw British Wazungu asked to return the land they stole.
The AIDS figures for South Africa remained very low under apartheid. However the moment Mandela took over they started rising to levels which if true meant everybody including Mandela had contracted the disease.
Locally we have seen the same. Nobody says the AIDS figures for Kenya are false. Certainly not me. However I sometimes find myself asking questions. I grew up being told that Luos were dirty and that Njonjo had refused to set foot in Nyanza because of lack of hygiene among Luos. Then there were cholera outbreaks in Kisumu and the media went crazy. Roadblocks were erected to all roads leading to Kisumu and drugs shipped in to feed travellers who had to enter Kisumu.
However when the same cholera hit Mathare a few weeks later, the minister for health ruled out similar measures. Cholera in Kisumu was eliminated It never left mathare. It became the pandemic it is now breaking out from time time while we live with it.
Certainly we need to know why the aids and HIV figures remain high in Homa Bay despite all the efforts. As of now I hardly think there is anybody who is untested in Homabay. That means the awareness is at an all time high. So what are the causes of new infections with all the awareness?
When you have an area with few motor vehicles coming for the first time, the number of accidents is high and fatalities high. Increase the number of vehicles and the accidents decrease as do the fatalities. I gave this example to illustrate that this spreads across disciplines. Informed people hardly repeat mistakes. So is the message failing? Or is somebody lying about something?
Topic: 1000 aids infection in South Africa a day (Read 1978 times)