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*AIDS MYTH*
************

Zimbabwe Resisting Facts in AIDS Epidemic
By JANE PERLEZ Special to The New York Times. New York
Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.:
Nov 24, 1989. pg. A7, 1 pgs

Document types:   article
Dateline:   BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Nov. 17
Section:   INTERNATIONAL
ISSN/ISBN:   03624331
Text Word Count   664
Document URL:

Abstract (Document Summary)
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Nov. 17 -- Ronnie Mutimusekwa, a
34-year-old street vendor who is infected with the AIDS virus, is
trying to help educate the public about the disease in Zimbabwe,
where people are said to doubt its rapid spread.

************
*AIDS FACT*
************

Zimbabwe population:

1980    7,170
2000  12,186

Population growth in 20 years: 69.95% (12.186 / 7.170)
Average population growth: 2.68%  (1.69958159  ^ 1/20)

************
*AIDS MYTH*
************

AIDS in Africa: A Killer Rages On; A Continent's Agony First of four
articles. AIDS Is Spreading Rapidly and Ominously Throughout Africa
By ERIK ECKHOLM with JOHN TIERNEY Special to The New
York Times. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.:
Sep 16, 1990. pg. 1, 2 pgs

Document types:   front_page
Dateline:   NAIROBI, Kenya
ISSN/ISBN:   03624331
Text Word Count   3439
Document URL:

Abstract (Document Summary)

NAIROBI, Kenya -- The AIDS epidemic continues to course through
Africa, outracing the prevention campaigns that have now been started
by every government.

************
*AIDS FACT*
************

http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/idbsum?cty=ke

1980       16,331
2000       29,986

Population growth in 20 years: 83.61% in 20 years (29.986 mn / 16.331 mn)
Average population growth: 3.08% (1.8361 ^ 1/20)

Alex
_____

AIDS IN AFRICA?
Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos & Valendar Turner

Rethinking AIDS Jan. 1995

http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/data/epvtafrica.htm

"Europeans and Americans came to Africa with prejudiced minds,
so they are seeing what they wanted to see...I've known for a long
time that AIDS is not a crisis in Africa as the world is being made
to understand. But in Africa it is very difficult to stick your neck
out and say certain things. The West came out with those frightening
statistics on AIDS in Africa because it was unaware of certain social
and clinical conditions. In most of Africa, infectious diseases,
particularly
parasitic infections, are common. And there are other conditions that
can easily compromise or affect one's immune system."

AIDS IN AFRICA
The Ugandan example
By Christian Fiala
1998

http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/data/chrfafrica.htm

AIDS Orphans

The story of AIDS orphans is certainly the most cynical since the
discovery
of HIV. And it sheds a characteristic light on the nature of reporting
about
AIDS: obviously anything is allowed, without reservation, that makes
people
feel threatened.
"About 830,000 children are living with HIV/AIDS. However, the impact
of the HIV epidemic on children goes far beyond the large number of
children
already infected with the virus.
A study carried out by the Orphan Project (New York), estimated the
number
of children under 14 years old already orhaned by AIDS to total more than
1 million in seven countries. Kenyan, Rwandan, Ugandan and Zambian
orphans
account for 95 % or these 1 million children. [...]
If, for example, we make the conservative guess that already orphaned
children
represent 10 % of the total number of children with HIV-infected mothers
in
Uganda, this means that more than 3 million children are alredy feeling
the direct
impact of the epidemic in this country alone." as the WHO's dramatic
words
in
their press release of 28 November 1996 describe the situation. In
Uganda,
there are currently some eight million children under the age of 15. If
three
million of them are feeling the direct impact of AIDS, then there is no
doubt
that AIDS is now affecting innocent children to an unimaginable extent.
Such
a finding can only leave one speechless.

This speechlessness is only exceeded by astonishment at another WHO
report
on the same subject, with the unobtrusive title "The care and support of
children
of HIV-infected parents" On page two, one finds the following note: "The
content
of this restricted document may not be divulged to persons other than
those to
whom it has been originally addressed. It may not be further distributed
nor
reproduced in any manner and should not be referenced in bibliographical
matter
or cited." There then follow some facts about AIDS orphans that one might
actually
have expected to see in the WHO press releases. "There is confusion as to
what is
meant by the term "orphan" [...] Projection studies carried out by WHO
and
studies
done elsewhere have used different criteria." And, as it goes on, a few
of
these are
further clarified: "The UNICEF defines an orphan as a child whose mother
has died,
and WHO defines an orphan as a child who has lost both parents or only
the
mother.
[...] In the Uganda enumeration study, an orphan is a child who has lost
one or both
parents (the standard Ugandan definition of an orphan)."

Lost, however, does not here mean dead, but simply absent, which is why
the WHO
also adds a far-reaching reservation: "One of the confusing aspects is
the
extent to
which the absence of one parent is the norm in a given society." What has
been said
so far should be more than enough to lead one to scrutinise all
statements
on this
subject with the greatest scepticism.

Because of the large number of families with single parents, even the
European
countries would have a large number of "orphans" if one applied the
Ugandan
definition. But the authors obviously know the history of Uganda and
therefore
know of the important reservation already mentioned on interpreting
figures
from this country: "In the Uganda enumeration study, no distinction was
made
as to the cause of orphanhood, which in some areas included the effects
of
war."
The authors are referring to the twenty-year rule of terror from 1966
until 1986,
which also included periods of war and civil war. In this period, the
country was
not only fundamentally destroyed, but above all, some one million people
were
killed. It should not be necessary to mention that this also led to a
large number
of children being orphaned. In 1980, Uganda had some 12.6m inhabitants.
(18)

People in Africa, and in Uganda in particular, need our help and
support after this long period of suffering. It is neither helpful nor
effective if wrong data and absurd definitions are employed to
mislead us and to divert attention from the country's real problems.
The present situation is leading to large amounts of funds from the
limited national budget and from foreign aid being invested in
campaigns, among others, to promote faithfulness in relationships
and the use of condoms. At the same time, it is clear that in Europe
the two-thousand-year manipulation through Christian teaching on
sex has brought about no lasting change in sexual behaviour. And
our use of condoms has hardly changed in the last 10 years, despite
the numerous campaigns. So it is not apparent why, of all things,
the sexual behaviour of people in Africa should change as a result
of campaigns.