Quickpost: Zambia, unprepared and undeterred

Hugh over on the Intactivism Pages provides a glimpse into an African debacle in the making in a critique of a news piece. The salient points are ham-fisted implementation that utterly misses the "in addition to" caveat of the UNAIDS and WHO recommendation on circumcision and the usual meddling in and muddling up by western NGOs.

Thanks to Joe in CA for a heads-up in the comments.

Comments

[J]

Hmm Lets see:
"Simpungwe confirmed that research by the Health Department found that some Zambians believed they could have unprotected sex after being circumcised."
I think 'some' will be a bit of an understatement.

"Only towards the end of the session, in response to a question, does he bring up the necessity of continued condom use after circumcision."
Shouldn't this be the first thing said? Perhaps even every third or forth sentence?

"men circumcised at most private clinics and public health facilities are not receiving counseling" followed "we struggle with what is the minimum counseling message, because the period we have to deal with these clients is very short and if the message is too long people get discouraged".
Not like the intensive counseling described during the trials they probably get discouraged as soon as they learn they still need the condom.

"Everything we do is a human resource constraint," pointed out Hughes. "Nobody would have dreamed of doing what we've done with antiretroviral therapy, with the kind of resources that were there. You have to make choices, and you have to choose the things that are going to make the most difference."

This is perhaps my favorite sentence limited resources for the most difference. So this is apparently costing 69$ each? That was more than I thought which means about 2300 condoms (which they still need anyway) subtract some for shipping, tax, and bribe. That is roughly 6 years worth if you nail one herpes/HIV infected leper prostitute per day. How on earth does this get past the bean counters?

I got four words: Slow Motion Train Wreck.