Always have your condoms at the ready

HIV as weapon

The case of the German singer Nadja Benaissa being prosecuted [1] for grievous bodily harm and attempted bodily harm in having unprotected sex with partners whilst knowing she was HIV positive makes interesting and controversial reading.

There are various camps pitched between considering her acts criminal to properly apportioning responsibility in relation to sexual liaisons between infected and uninfected partners.

For the case of the man who allegedly became infected through having sex with her, I am beginning to wonder if the onus of proof should not be extended to ascertain the particular strains of the virus because it does not appear to be conclusively proven that she infected him, rather the assumption has been made of her culpability without addressing the possible promiscuity of the partner.

Abdication of personal responsibility

My greater concern about these prosecutions comes from that of responsibility, each partner in a sexual liaison should be in charge of securing their personal protection when indulging in a sexual act.

I find it reprehensible that people would abdicate that responsibility and then seek to blame others for their personal irresponsibility when things go wrong.

In the passion of the moment or conversely in the moment of passion, if people can assume without verification that a partner is not infected with the virus and then engage in unsafe sex, the consequences are dire and the results can be life changing; it might be a consideration for a female to wear a femidom but surely anyone who likes wick-dipping should for all intents and purposes have condoms in their pockets.

Now, for a more clinical approach the partners can be as pragmatic as to obtain saliva test swabs from the local chemists and make a crude determination of status before copulation, but how many do have the presence of mind to do that?

The assumed invincibility of being active

There is a stigma attached to having the HIV virus and not everyone has reached the point where honesty about status is as forthcoming as the Karma Sutra positions they might persuade each other to take.

In another article I read earlier this week [2] with the graphic detail of homosexual sex, what was interesting was the inclination for the penetrative partner to assume that they are at lower risk of infection than the partner who receives the penetration.

The other matter of condom aversion with heterosexuals and homosexuals alike does not seem to be addressed too, this following on from the hubris of being the active partner and thence the almost invincible partner.

Another issue about sexually transmitted diseases is that the more common infections like chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes and syphilis makes the HIV negative partner more susceptible to infection but that chronology of events would normally not be forensically proven by the time the vindictiveness of prosecution and persecution takes hold.

Preventative measures of dispute

In another set of circumstances there is the matter of circumcision being preventative [3] of infection along with the recently announced microbicide gel [4] which is purported to prevent the transmission of the virus to women.

I have my concerns about the risks involved in conducting these tests in South Africa that sacrificed the health and safety of over 10% of the subjects to arrive at the conclusions and the effectiveness thereof is quite in the lower percentiles of success.

Obviously, the other question about this gel is whether when applied by an infected female partner it prevents the male partner from contracting the disease, they all do not constitute a panacea for risk.

None is so innocent or so wronged

In conclusion, I believe the responsibility must be shared; each person should take the responsibility for their sexual health and wellbeing seriously and personally without succumbing to the delirium of passion.

If a clear decision is made not to engage in unsafe sex as a matter of course and where that does not happen the question of trust is properly verified medically these atrocious persecutions should never happen.

Where one partner can play victim whilst visiting the full force on the law on the other when during the sexual event all common-sense had been thrown out of the window, this becomes unsafe from a justice and fairness perspective and though prosecution might exclude one person from the public sexual pool, I have my doubts that it serves as a deterrent to people from engaging in risky behaviour and it could well prevent people from seeking out the very truth about their status whilst engaging in promiscuously enjoyable behaviour.

In a more dispassionate application of the law, the wronged might well be excluded from the sexual pool by making it public knowledge that they also have become a public sexual risk just as much as the original culprit in the case. The foolishness on the part of the assumed victim should not be excused just as the prosecution for the alleged "crime" is being pursued with questionable vigour.

Sources

[1] 'HIV is no longer an epidemic. But the stigma is' - Health News, Health & Families - The Independent

[2] HIV/AIDS Resource Center for Gay Men: Subconscious Death-Wish of a Gifted, Young Black Man - The Body

[3] Nigerians Talk | What We Are Reading: What’s Good For The Goose…

[4] Microbicide gel: Reduced risk of HIV and herpes infections in women, study shows

Nigeria: The Guardian, Conscience nurtured by half-truths

Guided from the truth

When my friend highlighted the context of an article that appeared in the Nigerian Guardian of the 6^th of March 2009, I opined saying maybe the paper was not necessarily serving the function of its masthead [1] which is Conscience, Nurtured by Truth but just being a general publishing forum of opinions no matter how crass.

The editorial board of the Nigerian Guardian allowed and in allowing, endorsed the publication of an article by a Christian Nwoke who purports to work for the Project for Human Development in Lagos titled Finally, a social vaccine for HIV [2].

Reading through his diatribe I felt the article might have been well placed to appear in some newspaper some 25 years ago. I would not know the function of the agency he works for but he is clearly not aware of the demographic he writes about.

The women are the most affected

Indeed, there is sexual promiscuity amongst the youth and there is serious child sexual abuse in Nigeria which does not get tackled with the urgency and exposure that it requires, but this is hardly the face of HIV in Nigeria.

If Mr. Nwoke had bothered to do the most basic research before he fulminated, he would have realised that in Nigeria it is the women [3] that carry the greater burden of HIV/AIDS by over 50% of those infected and children account for 8%.

His article concentrated on the scourge affecting the men when the social issue is the women who in their matrimonial homes cannot exercise the restraint on their promiscuous husbands who sleep around and bring things home. Or women who are egregiously abused by a paternalistic culture that demands sexual satisfaction regardless of the woman's desires or rights.

Condoms fail but still protect

There is a mind and discipline element to Abstinence but human beings have a sexual inclination and appetite, where it needs to be satisfied for all sorts of reasons it is good to Be faithful but where that fails the next line of action is to use Condoms.

These are the ABC’s of protection; using all means as a pragmatic response to realities – social, moral, political and economic – rather than a puritanical one solution view of abstinence which we fail to accept is ineffective.

Mr. Nwoke expressed his ignorance in full measure when he suggested that condoms are causative of HIV and hence advocated they should be banned because they are known to fail.

Anything can fail

Indeed, condoms are known to fail which is why we are advised to use a lot of lubricant and check during usage that it is still effectively doing its job, but I doubt if condom failure is the main cause of HIV infection, I would suggest it is the lack of use of condoms.

Abstinence can fail if one is unfortunate to have a tainted blood transfusion, being faithful can fail if one of the partners is infected by other means than sexual transmission and condoms do fail; there is also a contraceptive element to using condoms talk less of the social consequences of children people cannot afford to rear – However, HIV/AIDS comes from either participant being infected – never from just the act of sex between uninfected partners, no matter how promiscuous they might be – one should debunk the unfounded view of sex equals infection.

By the time he uses the analogy of failed parachutes where he says if he is told one out of 6 parachutes failed he would not jump out of a plane, (parachutes are used all the time for jump out of planes, stopping high speed vehicles and many other things, we we adopted such a unadventurous view to life we would get nowhere; I guess because of car accidents he does not drive and for the fear of electrocution he does not use the mains) – the story of his ignominy was complete but he would not draw my ire.

The Guardian draws my ire

That is to be given to the Nigerian Guardian Editorial Board headed by a Dr. Reuben Abati [4] who as watchdogs and guardians of the principles and focus of the newspaper should not have allowed such tripe to feature especially not in a forum like the Internet which has a global reach. Indeed we should promote the freedom of expression but there should be a line drawn at poorly researched expressions of ignorance.

In this one case they have allowed a matter of conscience for Mr. Nwoke to be nurtured by half-truths, fallacies and ignorance then given it a global platform – this is appalling at best and should be harshly excoriated at worst.

A malevolent protégé, I perceive

As for the agency Mr. Nwoke works for, human development can be anything from serious humanitarian activity through eugenics to being an offshoot Dr. Mengele’s laboratory [5] – with such views expressed, one can easily see where Mr. Nwoke’s mind is.

The Guardian should really ensure that their columnists have researched their copy diligently and would impart knowledge rather than a diatribe of ignorant generalisations that have no basis in fact.

My friend who alerted me to that apology of an opinion has worked with persons with HIV and AIDS in South America, Africa and Oceania in the last 8 years and was incensed that such nonsensical views could appear in a newspaper that is supposed to have a reputation and a standard – the qualifier supposed for now stands as a grudging compliment.

Sources

[1] The Nigerian Guardian masthead

[2] Guardian Newspapers: Finally, a social vaccine for HIV

[3] HIV InSite – Nigeria

[4] Reuben Abati - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[5] Nazi human experimentation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How safe are condoms against HIV - HIV AIDS Care

How Effective Are Latex Condoms in Preventing HIV? | Questions and Answers | CDC HIV/AIDS

Note: If the source article disappears, I have already printed a PDF version of this infraction to good journalism.

The hard facts about preventing teenage pregnancies

They do get pregnant

It is now a news story that you have a probably read about and I would not dwell too much on the exact event itself but the context in relation to society as a whole.

A young beautiful woman with a fascinating life in the executive leadership of her home state gets plucked from obscurity to join in a national ticket for a job that leaves her a heartbeat away from world leadership.

She has five children, one would be loved dearly through the personal situation of having Down’s Syndrome, one would tug at the heart strings as he get sent to a war zone to fight for his country and one is a parental dilemma, she is 5-months pregnant out of wedlock at 17.

Conservative or liberal, in America or anywhere else, I am sure we all have a story to tell about daughter, sister or niece who happens to have fallen pregnant by circumstance.

Did it jump on you?

I have been witness to at least one interrogation of a housemaid in our home where my mother had having noticed the spitting, the whites of the eyes and early morning discomforts asked questions that included if I was responsible for the housemaid's anatomical changes.

Oh! Mother! You surprise me, whilst, I might have been interfered with, I have never interfered with our staff, she should have known that even if opportunity and privilege presented itself, the maid would never be laid; I would hope I was brought up both well and discerning enough to behave appropriately.

The funniest question if it was not that serious came when the girl could not account for how she fell pregnant, so she sneered in Yoruba (O fo mo e ni), which translates to in context, if you do not know how you got pregnant, did the baby just jump on you and result in an unexplained conception?

Dealing with a rampaging dilemma

In one instance, I could well tell when it happened, my mother had gone to have her hair done on a day we were to travel to our home town, as the driver arrived to take us away, my cousin and I had gone to get mother, leaving the driver and the maid at home – when we returned, the maid’s hair was all messed up she looked dishevelled, I just suspected something had happened.

Two months after, I found out exactly what had happened, the driver had taken advantage of her, most definitely raped her and the result was this rampaging dilemma that resulted in the sacking of the driver, a termination and the return of the maid to her people.

The truth from the delusions

But this does not half represent the fact that no matter how devout, strict and disciplined our families are, there is little we can do to prevent or arrest teenage pregnancies if we are not open about the possibilities – boys and girls are experimenting with sex and suddenly finding out the potency of their sexual organs after the fact – the sperm of the boys can fertilise the eggs of the girls and result in a PREGNANCY! Shock Horror!!!

I have never in my early life been warned of the possibility that this could happen, rather I have heard threats of foreboding, the girls terrified into nothingness with the father bellowing from afar – If a girl brings a pregnancy to my house, I will ... unprintable and unspeakable.

Insurance brings some assurance

Now, having no kids puts me at a disadvantage, but I have seen other parents do the very pragmatic, they have put condoms in the bags of their kids realising that adolescents would be adolescents with the probability that what they have been warned against might well be what they would indulge in.

So, as an insurance despite their stern entreaties, the condom is not so much a license to be promiscuous but a warning that if the child does find themselves in a tight situation of frenzied excitement, there would be the possible or slight presence of mind to wrap it up before dipping it in.

Unfortunately, there are many parents who cannot countenance the reasonableness of this approach and have lived to rue the day they have not been more forth-coming about the realities of life that good sex education prevents in the long term.

The more religious have joined in cults of the ring [Source: Silver Ring Thing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia] saving themselves until marriage in sexual abstinence vows; a movement and discipline in numbers that I commend, but what if the ring is not a good enough contraceptive at a moment of unanticipated weakness?

The facts of life are

As the child falls pregnant, many parents despair at the longer term and wonder if the life of their child is about to be truncated with a responsibility the child is hardly ready for or complicated by a decision the child had no power to make – there have been extremes from having the baby to term, telling the child that it was a still-birth whilst put the baby up for adoption to the trauma of an abortion.

Can we not agree that kids do experiment and the best thing to do is provide material and knowledge to prevent unwanted pregnancies and through that we most definitely would not have to deal with the matter of abortion or other complicated life decisions?

It is time to throw away those pseudo-religious goggles and the hubris of supposed insulation of our children from societal ills because we have been such good parents, guardians or mentors and face the possibilities that could hit us in the face so hard we cannot fathom when and where it all went wrong.

Very few of those out-of-wedlock pregnancies results in the seeming fairy tale ending of the event I alluded to at the beginning of this blog – young secret lovers having stolen a moment of sexual excitement now planning on becoming man and wife; in all, I wish that couple the very best of good fortune.

Church stance on condoms fuels atrocious claims

The curse of African leadership

To an observer from Mars, they would not be thinking amiss if they thought that Africa was cursed with people in authority who have no inkling of their responsibilities.

One such set of people in authority are those who derive their status from being proponents of religions ever so foreign to Africa but become part of the fabric of our societies.

The traditional rulers and healers who are the bastions of our historical and cultural heritage have now been demonised or subsumed into these religious political establishments that their erstwhile incumbency authority counts for nothing anymore.

They also have their faults, but this is not the forum to explore their failures.

The Origin of AIDS suspect

Critical analysis still leaves us a bit unsure of how HIV/AIDS ravaged the whole swathe of Sub-Saharan African through all the generations, because, it cannot have been people copulating with the Simian species but some conspiracies point to a major vaccination campaign that might have used contaminated agents – truth or not, that impression has stuck.

It then informs the way certain religious leaders admonished their followers to refuse polio vaccinations in Northern Nigeria stemming from a case where Pfizer had allegedly tested illegal drugs on children, some of which lead to deaths and disabilities.

This makes any offer of Western expertise to alleviate African problems a bitter pill to swallow because the question of trust is compromised with the history of Trojan Horse gifts that are offered in false sincerity for ulterior gains.

Outrageous baseless claims

This however does not excuse the claim made by the Catholic Archbishop of Mozambique where the church has failed to depress the sexuality and sexual energy of the people with Abstinence and Be-faithful but never use Condoms by claiming condoms are laced with HIV.

It is quite sad when supposedly knowledgeable leaders of society express such blatant ignorance and false assertions to excite hysteria in order to achieve an end when objective discussion has failed to yield the desired result.

Now, when it comes to planned parenthood or the management of sexually transmitted diseases, the Catholic Church cannot be said to have been the most help or responsible in understanding the demographics or attitudes of their laity.

In fact, one supposes the Church sees it fit to demand people abstain or be celibate since the priests never get to enjoy the joys of homo-sapiens-sapiens copulation – no fault of anyone because it is not doctrine; it is a rule of men.

Irresponsible behaviour

The greater dereliction of responsibility is in not realising that the weakness of human beings of sexual fulfilment has to be understand and catered for, in which case, if you cannot abstain from sex or be faithful to your partner (who could also be infected), use condoms.

The further issue here is to deprive those who are infected from enjoying sex if they decide to use protection because not everyone who has been infected acquired the infection through sexual contact.

The express stupidity of the archbishop is glaring from the fact that it is quite far-fetched that the HIV virus is conserved in condoms for the purpose of wiping out Africans who deign to use sexual protection.

There is enough scientific study to prove that HIV does not survive that well outside the body and it would only survive in blood if the blood is stored in the right conditions of temperature and containment, I doubt if condoms and their packaging fit into that scope of preservation.

Religion as a detriment to progress

The means of scare-mongering and urban legends to the end of stopping people from using condoms in the light of a greater humanitarian tragedy is beneath contempt to say the least.

I would expect that every respectable, knowledgeable and intelligent person with a stake in Africa would roundly condemn the archbishop as he finds ways to retract his statement whilst his integrity and status is diminished.

We just cannot afford to have such idiots mouthing nonsense and endangering the lives of vulnerable people just because they derive authority from some unAfrican religious order.

Defrock the man before the Catholic Church is a symbol of disgrace – even that is debatable in the light of this.

References

Polio Vaccines and the Origin of AIDS

The Origin of HIV & the First Cases of AIDS

HIV chimp vaccine theory dismissed

UNICEF Nigerian Polio Vaccine Contaminated with Sterilizing Agents Scientist Finds

Nigeria Muslims oppose polio vaccination

My Blogs on the Pfizer Drug Trials