Zimbabwe lawmaker advocates once-a-month sex to curb AIDS

Via Associated Press.

A Zimbabwean lawmaker has called on scientists to develop a chemical to dull men's libido and enable them to have sex once a month to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, a state daily reported.

Senator Sithembile Mlotshwa told the upper house of parliament that scientists should "look into the issue of trying to inject men with a substance that will make them lose appetite..." during a debate on access to HIV/AIDS treatment.

"I want to contribute by saying all the other avenues have been looked into and the only avenue left is for us parliamentarians to decide or suggest reducing the appetite of men and their insatiable greed for women."

Zimbabwe is one of the countries worst affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic although the rate of infection has gone down.

Extra-marital relationships are among the drivers spreading the pandemic.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Study: Virginity Pledges Don't Work

Teenagers Who Take Virginity Pledges No Less Sexually Active, More Likely to Forgo Birth Control, Condoms

The results showed that five years after taking the virginity pledge:

• 82% of pledgers denied ever having taken the pledge.
• Pledgers and matched non-pledgers did not differ in rates of premarital sex, sexually transmitted disease, and oral and anal sex behaviors.
• Pledgers had 0.1 fewer sexual partners in the past year but did not differ from non-pledgers in the number of lifetime sexual partners and the age of first sex.

Read the whole article on WebMD.

AIDS advocates inaugurate Obama as the President who will finally change the way the US fights AIDS

(Check out the full press release.)

On November 20, one thousand people living with HIV and allies from across the United States rallied in front of the White House to hold an "inauguration ceremony" for Barack Obama as the president who, during his first one hundred days, will prioritize policies to end the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. and worldwide...

President-elect Obama has made historically bold commitments to reform and expand U.S. AIDS policies. His campaign promised to develop a National AIDS Strategy that includes guaranteed treatment and care for all people with HIV in the US. The campaign pledge goes on to detail a commitment to housing as an integral part of HIV services, an end to the federal ban on funding for syringe exchange, and a call to redirect abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education funding into honest and accurate programs like comprehensive HIV prevention programs.

Internationally, Obama has promised to build on President Bush's global AIDS plan by removing the ideological strings the Bush administration attached to prevention funding. Specifically, Obama has committed to end the Prostitution Loyalty Oath and to support an evidence-based approach to HIV prevention that doesn't overly emphasize abstinence and fidelity at the expense of condoms. He has also pledged to increase funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, a multilateral program which fights the three killer diseases in over 170 countries and which is facing a major funding shortfall...

Gerald LeMelle, Executive Director, Africa Action: "Over the past five years, the U.S. has made great strides in fighting AIDS around the world, yet 33 million people remain infected with the virus, and HIV/AIDS is still the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Barack Obama has made bold pledges to build on President Bush's global AIDS plan by removing ideological restrictions on comprehensive prevention programs and increasing support for the multilateral Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Starting to implement these promises during his first 100 days would go a long way toward reasserting U.S. moral leadership in the world. Amid international economic turmoil, evidence-driven programs to combat AIDS abroad remain a smart and strategic investment in human security."

For more information, check the 100 Days to Fight AIDS web site.