Sex And HIV: Behaviour-Change Trial Shows No Link
The East African (Nairobi)
March 17, 2003
Posted to the web March 19, 2003
By Paul Redfern, Special Correspondent Nairobi
A UK funded trial aimed at reducing the spread of Aids in Uganda by modifying sexual behaviour appears to have had little discernible effect.
The trial, carried out on around 15,000 people in the Masaka region, involved distributing condoms, treating around 12,000 victims of sexually transmitted diseases and counselling.
However, while the trial led to a marked change in sexual behavioural patterns, with the proportion reporting causal sexual partners falling from around 35 per cent to 15 per cent, there was no noticeable fall in the number of new cases of HIV infection, although there was a significant reduction in sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhoea.
The trial results, which were reported in the British medical journal The Lancet, have already aroused some controversy.
The team leader of the trial, Dr Anatoli Kamalai, acknowledged that there was "no measurable reduction" in HIV incidence with "no hint of even a small effect."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200303190482.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200303190482.html
If AIDS is sexually transmitted how can one explain these figures: -
AIDS CASES IN 2001
http://www.avert.org/eurosum.htm
France 1528
Holland (legal prostitution) 45
Sweden (legal prostitution/very sexually liberated) 42
Denmark (as above) 74
These current statistics hardly suggest a link between AIDS and sexual activity.
....so does that mean that people in France are less likely to use condoms than in Holland, Denmark and Sweden?
Actually the EXACT REVERSE IS TRUE.
Durex study: -
[url]http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/10198/96961[/url]
"The number 2 country in the Durex survey (amount of sexual activity) is the Netherlands, where people say they have sex 158 times a year, followed by Denmark at 152. The average among all the countries is 139, with the USA falling just short at 138.
While people are still underprotecting themselves from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancies, according to the Durex Global Sex Survey, the French are the least likely to have had unprotected sex. Just 22 percent said they have not used protection, compared to 61 percent in Sweden who did not take precautions."
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France had over 1528 AIDS cases in 2001 (http://www.avert.org/eurosum.htm) compared to 42 in Sweden BUT uses condoms almost 300% more than people in Sweden.
Confused? The lower the condom usage the lower the AIDS. Not exactly what you have been taught?
HERE ARE THE ORIGINAL FIGURES ADJUSTED FOR THE POPULATION'S OF THE RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES INVOLVED.
AIDS CASES (RATE PER THOUSAND POPULATION).
Sweden .047
Denmark .139
Holland .028
France .268
CONDOM USE (as percentage of population)
FRANCE 78%
DENMARK 39% (EXACTLY HALF OF FRANCE)
and yet the rate of French AIDS cases is 1.93 (nearly twice as high*) compared to Denmark. In other words half the condom use creates twice the AIDS (cases not death) rate.
When you adjust for the higher number of sex acts per year in Denmark (152 v. 143) shown in the Durex study (compared to France) the figure shows that DOUBLE THE CONDOM USAGE RESULTS IN (OVER) DOUBLE THE AIDS CASES. This is fairly consistent in ALL European countries and so cannot be dismissed as a anomaly.
Clearly it seems that 'Safe Sex' is natural sex after all.