I don’t mean to sound racist, but I really do not understand the problem. Why is sexual continence so hard for these African people? I mean in the USA, we are not exactly chaste but I doubt 40% of the even sexually active, non-married crowd is promiscuous (i.e., multiple partners, frequent “risky” sex). There is probably a 15-20% “do anything to anything” group within sexually active non-married people, but serial monogamy is the norm here.
Are they
all just jumping on each other like animals over there?
mschrank, it has to do primarily with their culture, but other theories exist as well.
Culturally, monogamy is not required. Polgyamy is widely practiced in Africa, with men taking on as many women as they can afford. This ties into their economy as well, for the impoverished women wish to be married to have food and shelter.
Now, as I said, theories do exist and I am just presenting some food for thought, so don’t take these as written in stone:
One theory is that Africa’s water sanitation (in areas where they even have running water) is cleansed differently from ours. We use chloride whereas they use chlorine. This is a drastic difference that has some scientists wondering if it makes Africans susceptible to HIV.
Another theory is generally understood through our knowledge of biology and the human organism, but it is most widely accepted by alternative health groups or homeopathic groups. The theory is that Africans are impoverished to the point of being very susceptible to diseases. For example, war, famine, poverty, constant barrages of illnesses, erratic seasons (extreme heat)…these things erode health.
There is a theory that the quality and/or type of vaccinations Africans have been receiving have damaged their immune systems or made them vulnerable to HIV.
Scientists are finding a correlation between some oral contraceptives and a change in women’s reproductive health, and they worry this change makes women and their in-utero children vulnerable to HIV.
Speaking of women and children, the rate of maternal transmission is very high in Africa. This is probably due to there being little to no medical care, hospitals or education on giving birth/raising children.
We can look to India, a country that is approaching its point of not return (where the rate of HIV infection will surpass a certain point of sustaining an uninfected population) to see that condoms are not successful.
