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Author Topic: Ugandan condom shortage blamed on US
Granola Girl
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posted 30 August 2005 10:04 PM      Profile for Granola Girl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
BBC Link here.

quote:
The UN's special envoy on fighting Aids in Africa has accused the United States of endangering the gains Uganda has made in containing the disease.

Stephen Lewis told the BBC that Uganda - under pressure from Washington - was putting greater emphasis on abstinence to tackle the disease than condoms.

His remarks follow a report by US health campaigners saying the country was facing a condom shortage.

Mr Lewis said: "Over the last eight to 10 months, there's been a very significant decline in the use of condoms, significantly orchestrated by the policies of government."

"At the moment, the government of Uganda appears to be under the influence of the American policy through the presidential initiative of emphasising abstinence far and away over condoms," he said.

He suggested US President George Bush, who launched his multi-billion dollar campaign to tackle Aids in Africa two years ago, was acting under the influence of the religious right in US.



From: East Van | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
deBeauxOs
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posted 31 August 2005 12:06 AM      Profile for deBeauxOs     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Time to revive the slogan:

Keep your religion and your politics out of our bedrooms!!


From: missing in action | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged
mayakovsky
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posted 31 August 2005 01:19 AM      Profile for mayakovsky     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Condoms are a health aid dammit. Pure hypocrisy with the Bush admnistration and the religious right. The President has been married for how many years and he only has two kids? We know he doesn't support withdrawl!
From: New Bedford | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged
Granola Girl
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posted 31 August 2005 02:17 AM      Profile for Granola Girl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
The President has been married for how many years and he only has two kids? We know he doesn't support withdrawl!

*snort*


From: East Van | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 31 August 2005 09:30 AM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Uganda has been having such success in fighting infection -- it takes sheer perversity to undermine their programs at this point.

I'm sure we've heard that the U.S. has made funding of UN programs contingent on abstinence-theory, has in fact withdrawn funds from programs elsewhere in Africa, and besides, Lewis is an unimpeachable witness -- if he says there is pressure behind the scenes, I believe him.


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 31 August 2005 09:36 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by deBeauxOs:
Time to revive the slogan:

Keep your religion and your politics out of our bedrooms!!


Trudeau said it best - "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation". I think that's the full quote.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Willowdale Wizard
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posted 31 August 2005 10:11 AM      Profile for Willowdale Wizard   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
a bit of thread drift, but i was reading last week how the female condom might make a big comeback in developing countries.
From: england (hometown of toronto) | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged
scooter
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posted 31 August 2005 02:19 PM      Profile for scooter     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
What? You can only buy condoms from the USA?
From: High River | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
caoimhin
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posted 01 September 2005 11:42 AM      Profile for caoimhin        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
.....Ugandan First Lady, Janet Museveni, last year encouraged young people to take the high road. Speaking at the official opening of an annual youth conference in Kampala, she told over 2000 young people, "You do not need sex at your age. Wait until you are married. You can choose to fight AIDS by saying no and be able to stay alive."
She told the teens to ignore those who push condoms noting that companies which promote such products are after money. "Don't give your airtime to anyone talking to you about using condoms," Ms Museveni said. Adding she could "not be apologetic" for objecting to them.

from lifesitenews.com or something.


From: Windsor | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 01 September 2005 11:56 AM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by scooter:
What? You can only buy condoms from the USA?

Logic, scooter, logic:

We're talking about UN funding here, scooter, funding, for many things, including condoms. The trouble is, if many UN programs include condom programs, the U.S. threatens to withdraw its part of the funding. It may also threaten individual governments, as here, with the withdrawal of other kinds of funding. And it can get worse.


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
caoimhin
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posted 01 September 2005 12:22 PM      Profile for caoimhin        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
So, in essence, skdadl, you are saying that the AIDS crisis in Uganda is less important than the potential of limited funding from the US?
From: Windsor | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 01 September 2005 12:25 PM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Huh? I do not understand the question?
From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
caoimhin
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posted 01 September 2005 01:53 PM      Profile for caoimhin        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm just not convinced, having read this thread, that you are at all serious about AIDs or Ugandans.

".....Health Minister Jim Muhwezi dismissed talk of condom shortage."There seems to be a coordinated smear campaign by those who do not want to use any other alternative simultaneously with condoms against Aids," he said.Muhwezi said he was co-ordinating Uganda's HIV prevention strategy with the U.S. government, but insisted that condoms remain an important part of the strategy.He said the recent discovery of problems with the quality of condoms imported into Uganda had led to a disruption in supply, but that the problem was sorted out. Mr Jodi Jacobson, the executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, said all evidence collected in Uganda by her group had found that Ugandans had seen a 300 per cent increase in condom prices and free condoms could not be found at the normal distribution points."

and

"The State Minister for Health, Capt. Mike Mukula, denied claims that a new emphasis on promoting abstinence had contributed to the condom shortage."That is not true at all; our policy is to maintain the ABC (Abstinence, Be Faithful and Abstinence) policy which actually helped Uganda to reduce the Aids prevalence rates from over 20 percent to 6 per cent," Muhwezi said by telephone."The three strategies have always carried the same weight even when it came to our multi-pronged approach under the Private, Public Partnership."Mukula said the government is "aware that there are people who will have to use condoms like prostitutes, discontented couples and sexually active teenagers."

you are too eager to dismiss the Ugandans for 'unimpeachable' Lewis, his arrogance dutifully on display......

".....Lewis and Jacobson also said that a campaign to discredit condoms and promote abstinence by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's wife was providing misinformation about HIV that could cause an increase in the HIV rate." (The Monitor, Kampala, allafrica.com)

Can you believe that - "misinformation". Is it arrogance or stupidity to suggest a sexually transmitted disease can't be fought by not having sex? Or does Mr. Lewis believe the Ugandans haven't a clue about their own country and their own people?

Why are you more concerned with what the US may or may not do with its own money than with the steps Ugandans are making towards fighting the disease? I think a simple math exercise would easily provide proof that a multi-pronged approach, as promoted by both Uganda and the US,is very possible and will have more or a positive impact on disease prevention than "just givem the damn condoms, will ya.." Say 10million men will have sex 5 times a week. Thats 260 times a year. Thats 2.6 billion condoms for just Uganda. At, say, a buck per condom. $2.6billion. WWOW. Add up all the countries requiring aid and you will see how quickly that aid dries up.


From: Windsor | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
radiorahim
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posted 02 September 2005 02:28 AM      Profile for radiorahim     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
I'm sure we've heard that the U.S. has made funding of UN programs contingent on abstinence-theory, has in fact withdrawn funds from programs elsewhere in Africa, and besides, Lewis is an unimpeachable witness -- if he says there is pressure behind the scenes, I believe him

The U.S. government has incredible power over the policies of impoverished third world governments. Anyone who thinks the Ugandan government has made this decision independently is dreaming in technicolour.

Stephen Lewis has fried himself to a crisp over the HIV AIDS crisis in Africa. You can hear the absolute frustration in his voice these days. A whole generation of Africans is dying and it doesn't need to happen.

The Dubya administration and its Christian Right backers are just plain evil.


From: a Micro$oft-free computer | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 07 March 2006 08:41 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Life in Uganda's war zone:

quote:
A new documentary, 'Time to Act: Life in Uganda's War Zone' will be broadcast across Canada on Thursday, March 23 at 10:00 p.m. EST on the Canadian Learning Television (CLT) channel. The documentary features the insightful and heartfelt experiences of Queens University graduate Layal Sarrouh as she visits development programs in rural northern Uganda.

Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

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