THE THIRD WORLD WAR

In developing countries there is the uncomfortable irony that a principal check on population growth rates, whether in the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America within the past decade, has been the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Yet, although a check on population growth is required urgently, only the brutally cynical will see the horrifying spread of HIV/AIDS as a needed factor. Both the population growth rates and HIV/AIDS have to be contained, indeed severely reduced  through a concentrated international assault on the factors which contribute to their spread. Factors such as ignorance, boredom, poverty of the pocket and spirit, a casual approach to sex, unemployment and under employment, lack of education, lack of positive parental guidance, drug abuse and questionable values which either have no place in or should be modified to suit the requirements of the 21st century. 

There has to be a rethink on values which, consciously or otherwise, promote among many of our young men misguided machismo, or the troubling belief by all too many teenage girls and young women that their status among their peers and in the communities in which they live and/or move around is determined by the number of young men with whom they can have physical relationships. And by having their first babies at as early an age as possible. Recently, I came across a young woman, who at 30 was already a grandmother. Clearly, each of the above requires a different approach. There are strategies which need to be adopted to deal effectively with each, whether of a preventive or curative nature, and each situation is complex.

Young and not so young minds will have to be tackled through public relations exercises, whether through lectures, print and electronic media advertisements, billboards and posters, educating schoolchildren on the risks of casual as well as unprotected sex. Then there is the strategy of making education attractive to schoolchildren so that they in turn place increasing and worthwhile emphasis on acquiring disciplines and vocational skills, and in the process postpone interest in sex, however unconsciously, until they are in a better position to have a more rational approach to relationships. It has been argued that most young people who are interested in education up to the tertiary level, or at least the advanced secondary level, and in accessing scholarships to universities tend to postpone sexual activity.  

Critical to the success in keeping young people in the classroom  and focused will be properly motivated, knowledgeable and readily accessible teachers, who, even as they press on their charges the need to be disciplined and committed to upgrading their efficiency, themselves understand the importance of seeking to motivate the children. The process should begin at the pre-school level and within a framework which assists in encouraging the infants in developing a sense of self-worth. At the pre-school level although the competitive spirit should be promoted it should be appropriately handled with care taken that it not be at the expense of any child’s need for self-esteem.  

Each child should be encouraged to see himself/herself as an achiever. At the pre-school’s Speech Days or graduation every child should receive at least a certificate, whether it is a salute for being most attentive in class, most helpful, showing the most progress, never absent, most punctual and what have you. There will be the feeling that each child has been recognised by his teacher and by the pre-school, and as a result the parents of the toddlers share in their recognition with understandable pride. The strategy, which incidentally is employed at a pre-school, with which I am associated, is designed to stimulate in the children a feeling of self confidence and with it the acceptance, particularly among the graduates, that they are prepared for the next stage, that is primary school. 

The introduction of positive and healthy competition, which it is hoped will be taken to the primary and secondary levels, eventually will replace in the society the misguided thinking of all too many of an older generation that worthwhile competition can only be based on who is physically attractive to whom. The movement away from later possible delight in the emptiness of an explosion of meaningless relationships begins with the very young. “Train up a child in the way it should go,” we are admonished in the Book of Proverbs, 22:6, “and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Billions of dollars will be needed not only to treat the disease, but to assist in changing the lifestyles of the young and not so young and so halt the spread of HIV/AIDS.

But the cost of drugs to combat the HIV virus and indeed the AIDS disease is beyond the reach of the broad mass of people in the world’s poorest countries, and the countries themselves. In turn, effective public relations campaigns aimed at sensitising people to the dangers of casual sex are expensive. But it is imperative that Governments reach out to the people. The battle against HIV/AIDS which has been stepped up within recent years is far from being won, and in a frightening sense is the Third World War, a war in which many more persons will die than did in the two World Wars. 

It clearly is not enough merely to target HIV/AIDS victims and teenagers and young adults. We have to begin with the pre-schoolers and help them develop self-esteem, a sense of self-worth so that, ultimately, they will not fall prey to the suicidal thinking of so many young people today that what is important is the number of relationships they have. There is a link between the population growth rates of Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America and HIV/AIDS.  The link is one of poverty, both of the pocket and of values, but it can and must be broken.