Are anti-AIDS programs based on a false premise?

"When I give food to the poor, I'm called a saint. When I ask why they are poor, I'm called a communist." -Archbishop Dom Helder Camara. This essay is part of an occasional feature on this blog that presents compelling stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, IsraelStine and the Trumped Up Enemy of the Month. A list of all pieces in this series can be found found here..

The public radio show This American life has a fascinating story on how counterintuitive behavior sometimes save lives and how many AIDS prevention programs in Africa are based on flawed conventional wisdom.

(Click here to access theshow... see Act One)

The dingbat of the week award goes to...

... North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole for trying to name an HIV-AIDS relief bill after her predecessor, the late Jesse Helms.

Bear in mind, this was the same progressive-minded Sen. Helms who uttered such pearls of wisdom as "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy" and who opposed re-funding of an anti-AIDS program because they got sick via their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct."

The "revolting conduct" committed by the 12 year old boy after whom the program was named was receiving a tainted blood transfusion.

This is the paragon of progressive thinking on AIDS that Sen. Dole wants to honor.

Then again, in a world where George W. Bush can be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize....