Scientists, activists and policy makers all agree that condoms are a trusted weapon in the fight against aids.
Safe sex =disease protection
you wrote:
" it is almost impossible for a circumcised male to infect a female through any normal sexual act. "
i don't know where you came up with this idea, but if someone is infected with hiv, circumsized or not, they can infected others.
People believe hiv infection will never happen to them and many still associate hiv/aids with gay people. Yet men, women and children of every race and religious or spiritual belief are being infected with hiv every day, all over the world! Even the vatican continues to oppose condom use to fight aids while hiv infection escalates!
The heterosexual community is not practicing safe sex, which is evident in the statistics of hiv infection amongst heterosexuals worldwide. Seventy five percent of the world population infected with hiv is heterosexual. Fifty percent of all hiv infections are in women. There has been insufficient time or attention given to the dispersal of proper information through the media regarding hiv and aids and hiv prevention.
Studies show that anal sex is common throughout the world and in some countries 60% of adults practice anal sex. Women in the united states are reported to be seven times more likely to engage in unprotected anal sex, than men having sex with men. Condom usage is lower for heterosexual anal sex compared to vaginal sex. Many men who have sex with men do not define themselves as gay. More and more women are being infected with hiv through sexual intercourse with their male partner, unaware their partner is bisexual! In heterosexual relationships, infidelity is also responsible for increases in hiv infection among women.
Many people have discontinued safe sex practices and there is no doubt this situation is going to have an enormous effect on all our lives. The united nations predicts “aids will cut population by 300 million; 300 million fewer people in the world by the year 2050 from the impact of aids.”
for years, the gay community successfully promoted and practiced safe sex practices, which reduced the number of infections dramatically over a period of ten years. With antiretroviral therapies and fewer deaths associated with these treatments, many gay people have discontinued safe sex practices. Hiv infection is not disclosed to partners and anal sex without a condom is increasing at alarming rates. So now hiv infection is on the rise again amongst gay people.
People think because we have antiretroviral therapies there is no need to practice safe sex or worry. There is no guarantee these medications will work on everyone! An infected individual may be resistant to all the drugs taken by the person who transmitted the disease. One out of every 10 europeans newly infected with hiv has a drug-resistant strain of the virus according to a study released at the 2003 international aids society’s 2nd conference, on hiv pathogenesis and treatment, held in paris. Multiple sex partners mean multiple infections can occur with the likelihood of infection with more than one hiv strain. This places an individual in greater danger of illness and or death as well as any person they infect. Some strains of hiv have been shown to cause illness and death rapidly regardless of immune status. The world health organization (who) has estimated 170 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis c. Being infected with hiv may also include being infected with hepatitis c along with other sexually transmitted diseases such as; syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, human papilloma virus (hpv), herpes simplex virus (hsv), and hepatitis a, b, and/or c.
There is the perception that if you are infected, hiv is manageable. Managing hiv/aids can become a full time job! It involves management of your health through doctors’ appointments, hospital visits for blood work and appointments at hospital pharmacies to pick up your necessary hiv/aids medications. You must manage the side effects of the drugs and drug resistance. There are the demands of managing to overcome each opportunistic infection. All of these are essential to manage to stay alive!
Hiv infection does not occur without an opportunity!
Hiv can be stopped, but without more public awareness of the risks involved, safe sex practices and the realities of people living with hiv, the numbers of infections will continue to grow and more lives devastated! This awareness cannot be provided by aids organizations alone! Government and the media need to play a more active role in hiv prevention. The truth about hiv infection needs to be told!
Health authorities predict by the year 2010, there will be 45 million new infections and 70 million people will die of aids by 2020.
Unaids estimates as many as two thirds, of the 45 million new hiv infections expected by 2010 could be prevented if prevention programs were immediately expanded.