Thursday, December 11, 2008

Hiatus - Happy Holidays People!

It’s time to take a break people. I’m off to re-discover my natural and E-free life, to travel around and appreciate Kenya, to touch base with real life smileys and emoticons, and last and most important to be with family.

Till then, Happy holidays friends. Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Monday, December 1, 2008

HIV/AIDS - Taking The Battle Too Far?

It’s world AIDS day and I’d like to take this opportunity to commend all those who have in one way or another done their bit to crush this monster. I wish comfort to all those infected and affected.

While I have no objection to the fight against HIV/AIDS, and I don’t condone people infecting others deliberately, it seems some countries are taking the battle a little too far. I don’t know what to make of a radical proposal in Indonesia to insert microchips in Sexually Aggressive HIV positive people. As the lawmakers behind the idea put it, ‘it’s a simple technology. A signal from the Microchip will track the movements and this will be received by monitoring authorities. If a patient with HIV/AIDS is found to have infected a healthy person, there will be a penalty’.

I’m sure the law makers have done their feasibility study and know best the workability of such a proposal but in my opinion is raises more questions than answers. First other than being a very scary idea it could amount to gross human rights abuse. Nobody wants to be tagged and monitored by some government official going about their business let alone their sex business.

Second will it be able to determine that a wearer actually had unsafe sex or if they had sex at all if they went visiting a girl/boyfriend? At what level does one get sexually aggressive enough to be deserving of this tag? What becomes of those who are not necessarily branded sexually aggressive but can still infect others? The people of Papua better just do the ABCs I think. Abstain, Be faithful, Condoms.

On a different note there’re some reports in the dailies of late that even marriage is not a safe haven for the uninfected. HIV infection rates among married have risen to an all time high. Is it so or is it that they have not been targeted for research until now?