[lbo-talk] AIDS in the USA, AIDS in the World

[Patrick Bond]

Chris Doss wrote:
> How is the disease stigmatized, if such a huge
> percentage of the population has it? Looking at the
> figures I get the idea that just about everyone in
> South Africa must know many people with HIV.

Hi Chris, lots has been written on this that you can find on the web, 
but I'm too rushed to reply properly. Will give impressionistic riff 
instead....

Needless to say, President Mbeki's bizarre stance has made matters much 
worse, as he ran a race/sexualized critique of what he took to be 
mainstream AIDS transmission wisdom. And in that denialism, plus all the 
other resources he expended on AIDS quacks, there never has been a 
proper public AIDS education campaign.

And so AIDS activists - especially women - face enormous problems 
getting their message across; and treatment isn't being taken up in many 
clinics simply because people are still too scared to admit they are 
positive.