Belize to Benefit from US Program to Combat AIDS

[Zelda]

US GOVERNMENT TO FUND HIV AND AIDS PROJECT

June 11, 2010 - Love-FM News

Belize stands to benefit from a United States government funded project in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Earlier this month the National AIDS Council signed a partnership agreement with the US government which will chart a path for sustained support in the common fight against HIV/AIDS in the region. According to a press release from the US embassy in Belmopan, with the signing of the Framework, funds will be available to begin project implementation in the coming months. The release goes on to say that as the region with the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world, second only to Sub-Saharan Africa, the United States recognized that a regionally targeted program for the Caribbean could directly meet critical public health needs and support the outstanding work already ongoing in the region to combat this disease. The AIDS epidemic continues to be a leading cause of death among Caribbean adults between twenty five and forty four years of age, and has left nearly a quarter of a million Caribbean children orphaned.

http://www.lovefm.com/ndisplay.php?nid=12170

Please contact Colette via PM if you are able to help with her new program to bring in condoms on your next trip to Belize.

the condoms will be distributed free of charge by the AIDS Council in San Pedro...

high praise for the fine work they're doing, and YOU can help save a life by contributing !!

[Stokke]

For the first time ever, a vaginal gel has unequivocally blocked the transmission of HIV. In a trial that involved nearly 900 South African women, those who received a vaginal gel that contains an anti-HIV drug had a 39% lower chance of becoming infected by the virus than those who received a placebo. As reported today online in Science and in a presentation at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna, of the 444 women who received a placebo gel, 60 became infected with HIV, versus 38 infections in the 445 women who received the microbicide. The result was statistically significant, and no serious side effects occurred.

[Zelda]

oh god, how awful to discover you're in the placebo group...

[collyk]

Condoms are relatively inexpensive in the USA and very lightweight to bring down.....and they can save a life. So, do bring condoms if you can!

[Lucywu2012]

I agree with you!

[Stokke]

The last time Deb & I went together to Belize, we met up with an acquaintance of ours who is stationedin a clinic in Dangriga working through a Peace Corps program to educate students in outlying areas about AIDS. We were shocked to learn according to him how abysmally ignorant most students were about safe sexual practices, i.e.: condoms, etc., and about sex in general. What we took for granted about teaching our children here in the U.S. about sex and related subjects from our conversation seemed to be woefully lacking in Belize according to his experiences. I'm talking about elementary sex knowledge, and it made me wonder why. From my experience, it seems as though in Hispanic or C.A. culture in general, this topic isn't discussed as openly as it is here in the States. Maybe it is tied to a privacy or respect issue, which I know is extremely important to C.A. people; maybe much more so than in the U.S.. That is too bad, because that lack of knowledge is literally killing people. I'm not stating this as a blanket statement for all non-westernized 2nd or 3rd world people's, but I think maybe it it could be an important cultural issue, this matter of privacy or respect, or taboo subject material. On the one hand, hugging, kissing, and other mannerisms or demonstrations of friendliness are quite different, and not as open from the accepted U.S. norm. But beyond that, in the area of what children are taught on a societal level, maybe sex education in the non-U.S. areas of the world isn't as openly discussed, and this could be part of the reason why AIDS is so rampant in these areas. I'm certainly no expert on the subject, but I thought I'd throw this out there for consideration.

[collyk]

Good points Stokke. My experience in the USA and the UK is that most children in deprived or rural areas get most of their sex education from TV. The same seems to apply here. In San Pedro, kids are pretty sex aware but this is a latino/mestizo culture in San Pedro and they are pretty open about sex and sexuality. My impression is that other communities in Belize (and there are so many cultures here) such as the Garifuna and Maya, are much more conservative about sex and don't talk about it much at all. When we were in Hopkins, we were also stunned as to how little the young people there knew about HIV/AIDS. I don't know how active their AIDS Commission is there or if they even have one, because ours is very active and works closely with the schools. Also, even the religious educators here in San Pedro (including the Sister) teach kids about safe sex and condoms - except for the silly older ones who still live in the fantasy land of abstinence.