The Star Late Edition

What if you don’t know?

-

HIV/Aids is an epidemic. For prevention you’re instructed to use some weird rubbery item. But – wait for it – the best type of condoms have to be bought.

Those who can afford “good” condoms get to have great sex. If you are poor, well, you are stuck with a thick piece of rubber getting in the way.

If you can’t read or write or can’t speak English – go back about 300 years – you have no way of knowing HIV/Aids exists. You might find out through word of mouth. This means a significan­t amount of illiterate­s and non-English speakers don’t know about the virus.

If you had no TV, phone, radio, or any other technologi­cal device to communicat­e world messages to you, you would be oblivious to deadly disease.

Fast-forward to 2016, to areas in South Africa where residents can’t get informatio­n on or help with the virus near their homes. Places so isolated there isn’t even clean water. Places where people have no access to health-care services, let alone condoms.

Doesn’t it seem like whoever created the Aids virus (which miraculous­ly started in Africa) knew exactly which places to hit (where there’s a huge population) to moderate the human population rate?

The fortunate find out early about the virus, thanks to resources, and survive. Those who have zero access to informatio­n or prevention are unfortunat­e enough to swiftly die from the virus. Tragic.

 ?? NONTOBEKO MSWELI ??
NONTOBEKO MSWELI

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from South Africa