Should everyone have a month off sex?

Scientists fighting the Aids epidemic are calling on Africans to stop having sex for a month. They say it could cut new infections by almost half. According to their research a person with HIV is most likely to pass the on virus to somebody else during the 1st month after they've been infected.

One of the scientists, Alan Whiteside, thinks a month-long pledge to use a condom could also be effective.

But Elizabeth Mataka, the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa says that abstinence is not an option for most married women because they have conjugal obligations to fulfil. She argues for new technologies to prevent infection, such as a ring women can wear in the birth canal which releases anti-retrovirals to block transmission - which is being trialled in Kenya at the moment.

Some worry an abstinence campaign could be viewed as moralistic, or that church could hijack the idea and use it to promote their ideals around marriage.

Abstinence certainly fits in with the view held by many in the church. The authors of a new book argue that getting people to abstain and be faithful is more important than the 'technical fix' of promoting condom use. They compare it to smoking:
Maybe once it seemed unrealistic to change a situation where 75% of people smoked, but public health authorities embarked on campaigns to change such lifestyle choices, with success.

And Charles R Swindoll also connects abstinence with marriage:

The problem of AIDS is horrible, but understanding the ultimate cause is not complicated. To borrow from the prophet Hosea (who knew the tragic consequences of sexual impurity), our land has sown the wind and we are now reaping the whirlwind. The storm will not subside unless we return to marital fidelity and sexual abstinence.

But Philip N Cohen thinks talking about marriage and abstinence can get in the way of trying to promote a health message. This blogger argues that education is crucial to fighting Aids. Elizabeth Pisani thinks that one weakness of abstinence programmes is that they are only meant to work until people get married, but people can be unfaithful after that. And Dr Ayiko says we need to use the law as an instrument to prevent people intentionally infecting others.

by Claudia Bradshaw
12:02 UK time,
Monday, 5 July 2010
source: BBC News

Thai Aids 'cure' declared useless

Public health officials in Thailand say a so-called "miracle cure" for Aids has been found to be useless - dashing the hopes of thousands of sufferers.
The V-1 Immunitor Pill was created by a Thai pharmacist, who claimed that it was the first cure for the deadly disease. It was given free in mass handouts to thousands of Aids patients.

"We want to point out that V-1 is merely a food supplement and it is not harmful to take, but I want to reaffirm that it's not a drug"
Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan.

But Deputy Public Health Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said that in fact the pill had no significant effect on Aids sufferers.
"From physical examinations and laboratory tests of Aids patients who have taken V-1 Immunitor, it can be concluded that the pill does not have any effect on the body's immune system, white blood cell count and amount of the virus in the blood," the minister said in a statement.

Thailand is grappling with one of the region's worst Aids problems,
with one in 60 of its population already infected.

Food supplement

The tests were carried out on 50 patients who had been taking the pill.
As a result, the government has ordered that the pill must now only be marketed as a food supplement.

"We want to point out that V-1 is merely a food supplement and it is not harmful to take, but I want to reaffirm that it's not a drug," said Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan.

But the government says it will test the patients again to verify the tests.
"Another examination and test should be conducted in the next two to four months," Mr Surapong said.
The results of the test were immediately challenged.
A Thai epidemiologist, Dr Orapun Mettadilokun, told the BBC's East Asia Today programme that he had carried out an independent study and found the drug to have a positive effect.

'Inconclusive'

The Salang Bunnag Foundation, a charitable organisation that has backed the pill and distributed it to thousands of people in Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai, said the ministry's findings were inconclusive.

"We take it with a grain of salt, because they said they need to study it for a few more months," a spokesman for the foundation said.

"The data they received is a one-off, and it does not determine the efficacy of the product," he added.

The chairman of the foundation, former police general Salang Bunnag, also rejected the ministry's findings, saying an independent committee of government offices and his foundation should be established to test the pill.