Our Renaissance Leaders
Uganda was once a model for controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS. The infection rate that was once as high as 18% had fallen back to a mere 6%. The secret for Uganda's success was the so-called ABC model (abstinence, be faithful, use condoms). At one point, every African nation was trying to copy the Ugandan model. President Musevini took credit for his role in helping to demystify the disease and for his full support for the ABC model.
Things started to change after the Bush Administration took over the white house. A new policy of abstinence only was being forced down on the developing world. Museveni, meanwhile, was starting to reveal his true self through his open support to a NO party system and his blunder in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is now in the process of destroying his main legacy, the controlling of the AIDS epidemic, by irresponsibly echoing the white-house's view of abstinence only. His wife, an openly evangelical Christian, is believed to be behind Museveni's new view on the ABC policy. This has affected ordinary Ugandans in a major way. The HIV infection rate has gone back up to 7% for men and 9% for women.
In Ethiopia, however, I have read that the use of Condoms has been going up during the past several years. Although I am hoping that the spread of the disease has been limited, I can't help but to feel that there is still a lot to be done to educate the population. In my several previous visits to Ethiopia, I found that many had a casual attitude about sex, prostitution is rampant (as a result of poverty), and, many die of AIDS everyday. Perhaps what we lack is not the "C" but the "A" and the "B". Unless there is a major shift in the living standard and the attitude of Ethiopians, the AIDS epidemic might destroy our society to the point that it can not recover.
God Save Africa
