E-mail
Print
RSS
G-bookmarks
Live
TechnoratiAnother promising option would be male circumcision, which can cut transmission by up to 60 percent. But it has so far received little PEPFAR backing because any mass program is thought to be too complex for impoverished countries to undertake.
Most experts agree that prevention means a fundamental change of behavior — fewer sexual partners and mutually faithful relationships. "We are trying to change culture, tradition," says Mandla Ndlovu, project officer for Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa.
"It is not going to be a one-round fight," says Ndlovu, who runs a PEPFAR project to increase AIDS awareness among men in Carltonville, a gold mining town outside Johannesburg where men live in hostels away from their families and there are few pastimes besides alcohol and casual sex.
Bost brims with superlatives about the achievements of PEPFAR in South Africa, and believes Bush will be judged more kindly in history than on Jan. 21.
Dybul, a specialist in infectious diseases whose title is now U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, concurs.
"It's the largest international health initiative in history for a single disease," he says. "In any other circumstances, he (Bush) would be getting a Nobel prize."
Sweetness Mzolisa, overflowing with energy and enthusiasm, puts it more simply.
"He's got heart," she declares. "He cares about people."
___
Associated Press writers Donna Bryson and Celean Jacobson in South Africa, Rodrick Mukumbira in Namibia and Lewis Mwanangombe in Zambia contributed to this report.
David Ben-Ariel »
Agree: 
Disagree: 
