AIDS at record high

As we look at the latest global figures of the frightening rate of AIDS infection and deaths, I guess we will much more greatly appreciate the wisdom and foresight of our Ministry of Education (and Government by extension) in adopting the “abstinence only” policy for our schools.

As the global community gets ready for the six-day 15th International AIDS Conference, which commences in Bangkok tomorrow, faces are grim. The harsh reality of the epidemic now surfaces: the battle against the world’s most deadly enemy, and the greatest threat to human existence, is being lost. This, despite the elaborate, ever-expanding “safe sex” campaigns by the so-called experts. The UNAIDS 2004 report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, reveals that there were five million new HIV infected cases in the year 2003. This is the largest number of new infections in any single year, since the virus was first identified in 1981. This writer has said it ad nauseum, the condom-sale hype (with all its inveigling tactics) and “safe sex” campaigns actually result in the increase of HIV/AIDS infection, rather than the opposite. The prestigious London medical journal Lancet (January 29, 2000) notes, “Increased condom use through vigorous promotion, will increase the number of HIV/AIDS transmissions that result from condom failure.”

In reference to the obverse results of AIDS control and prevention initiatives, Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS is quoted as saying, “Despite increased funding, political commitment and progress in expanding access to HIV treatment over the past two years, the AIDS epidemic continues to outpace the global response” — BBC News, July 06, 2004. At no other time in the world’s history has so much time and resources been concentrated in the fight against HIV/AIDS, as we have today, yet the spread of the virus continues, as if with greater vengeance. Nick Partridge, Chief Executive of Terrance Higgins Trust, the famous UK-based (AIDS) charity, admitted, “More is being done to combat this devastating virus than ever before, but it has not got the job done.” He added, “The global response to HIV is not keeping pace with the epidemic.” While the world is playing cat ‘n’ mouse with the so-called safe sex condoms and related factors, this defiant killer continues to wreak havoc internationally.

Accordingly the UNAIDS 2004 report, there were approximately 3,000,000 AIDS deaths last year. This brought the total number of deaths of the 23-year reign of the virus to 20,000,000 — almost sixteen times the population of TT! In the Caribbean there are 430,000 people living with HIV, says the UN report. For the year 2003, there were 52,000 new cases of HIV infections — that is 1000 new infections per week. A further 35,000 persons died from AIDS during that year (approx 95 persons per day). Unlike some of the other regions where the primary modes of infections are via intravenous drugs needles and/or homosexual activity, “the Caribbean’s epidemic is predominantly heterosexual.” UNAIDS Fact Sheet, 2004. The report also highlighted the fact that in the Caribbean three countries have national HIV prevalence of at least 3 percent. They are the Bahamas, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. Yes, our beloved TT! With a population of roughly 1.3 million people, a 3 percent prevalence rate means approximately 39,000 persons are living with HIV.

The abstinence message — abstaining from pre-marital and extramarital sexual activity — has clearly proven to be the only 100 percent effective means of preventing HIV infections. Abstinence simply has no failure rate! No other strategy, plan or option can boast of this result. Sadly, however, many of the experts in the field of HIV/AIDS have not yet subscribed to this view, despite the extremely harsh and cruel realities with which they continue to be confronted. As we look at the frightening global picture of the rapid rate of AIDS infection and deaths, I guess we will much more greatly appreciate the wisdom and foresight of our Ministry of Education (and Government by extension) in adopting the “abstinence only” policy for our schools. This thrust, of course, includes the development of an abstinence curriculum. In my view, first on the agenda of tomorrow’s opening of the International AIDS Conference should be a call to repentance, for the fatal falsehoods which the various international bodies have propagated over all these years.

But of course, only if horses could fly! One of the beneficiaries from the worsening HIV/AIDS epidemic is the condom manufacturer. And, most certainly, their interest shall be represented at tomorrow’s Conference. Who knows, it may even be a quid pro quo arrangement! UNAIDS, according to the BBC report, is now calling for the global funding allocated to fight the AIDS plague, to be increased from US $5 billion to US $20 billion. US $15 billion increase over four years to, from all appearances, finance a failure. The real solution however, is not in more money, but rather, more morality! Quite obviously, what is required in our social climate is an aggressive campaign aimed at the re-engineering of the behavioural and cultural patterns and, above all, our fundamental value systems. We must decisively turn back to God and His Holy Word, fully readopting His moral code for man.