International AIDS conference

This is something that really caught my attention lately.

The 16th International AIDS Conference has opened up this weekend, and there's been plenty of coverage on CBC. In particular, there was a facinating interview with Stephen Lewis, one of the best known UN Special Envoys for HIV-AIDS. I especially admire this man in his fight to bring more recognition to the effects of this global disease. He's earned much respect in the world, and has also garnered many enemies for being outspoken against South Africa and the United States on their policies towards controlling HIV-AIDS.

We in Canada have been fortunate enough where the growth of AIDS has slowed (but not stopped) in North America, but it's still spreading wildly throughout Africa. During the CBC interview, Stephen Lewis identified how African women in particular are in acute risk. Due to a highly male-dominated society, women have very little say in refusing sexual advances by men and have no control whether contraception is used. The statement that surprised me was that married women, who were often married to much older men, were at greater risk of contracting HIV. Males would often have many partners throughout their lives, and would continue to spread HIV to their wives. People have identified that greater empowerment and education of women in their society would greatly reduce the incidents of AIDS. But due to the huge problems in Africa right now, such as war and famine, it's a daunting task to establish these education programs. This is made even more daunting in countries like South Africa, where they won't even acknowledge how HIV is transmitted from person to person.

Due to the huge scale of the problem and the enormous resources required to fight this disease, I'm truly puzzled (and a bit angry) that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has chosen to skip this conference. Instead, he has chosen to go to the north, and concentrate on announcements on Arctic soverignty. I've given our Prime Minister a lot of slack, since this government is fairly new. I was willing to put up with some hiccups as the new government minsters got more experience in running a government. But the PM's decision not to address the AIDS conference is an outright embarrassment to the country. Canada needs to do its share to fight this disease. I'm saddened to see that this issue isn't considered important by the government.