[This is absolute, complete, unadulterated MADNESS of the highest order. But, let’s not discourage fools and idiots like these. Let them wipe themselves and their offspring out, through their own stupidity. Viva Darwinism!

Don’t be fooled by the statements that there are only 2 million HIV(43)+ people in S.Africa. At the very least, it is about 10 million – at the VERY LEAST. In KZN, 40% of all pregnant mothers are HIV(43)+ – that alone probably accounts for about 1-2 million people alone. In the rest of the country, 30% of pregnant mothers are HIV(43)+. The MINIMUM, for this country of 45 million people is probably 10 million. In reality it might even be higher than that. Jan]

Johannesburg – Nearly half of South Africans aged 15 and older see nothing wrong with marrying an HIV-positive person and would not have a problem having sex with them.

This is according to the Nelson Mandela Foundation-commissioned second South African HIV prevalence, incidence, behaviour and communications 2005 survey released on Wednesday.

Principal investigator Olive Shisana, chief executive officer of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), said: “These results suggest that South Africans are accepting HIV/Aids as a reality and that stigmatisation in society is becoming less of a factor, especially in urban areas.”

The study found that 90.7% of South Africans were willing to care for HIV-positive family members and that 79.8% were against the exclusion of HIV-positive children from schools.

Although South Africans acknowledged the government’s efforts in dealing with HIV/Aids, a significant number was unhappy with the financial and human resources allocated to dealing with the pandemic.

Confusion is a ‘worrying trend’

However, only 47% of male, employed respondents were willing to pay an Aids tax and 44.2% of working women – 50% of them blacks and coloureds, and less than 40% whites and Indians.

A “worrying trend” was confusion among older South Africans about whether HIV caused Aids, the effectiveness of condoms in curbing infections, and the purpose of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.

Warren Parker of the Centre for Aids Development Research and Evaluation (Cadre) said it was unlikely this could be attributed to the debate about the effectiveness of ARVs between vitamin salesman Matthias Rath and the Treatment Action Campaign.

Trusted their partner

While this could be a contributing factor, the cause was more likely “general misunderstanding”, he said.

The study found that 66% of those interviewed did not think they were at risk of being infected – because they were faithful to one partner, trusted their partner and always used condoms.

However, some of these respondents were later found to be HIV-positive in tests conducted as part of the study.

Shisana said: “Put it in another way; more than two million people who are HIV positive in South Africa do not think they are at risk. This means they may be unaware of their risk of potentially infecting others.”

Source: News24.Com
URL: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Aid…/p>