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| Quotes : vih |
| The Economist | ||
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2006/12/09 page 65 | Madagascar' s isolation has provided at least one bonus: it has protected its people from HIV/AIDS. Over on the mainland, one in five adults has the virus, while less than 1% of Malagasies are infected. If mining and tourism take off, that may change. So far, the government has shown commendable foresight. The president himself went through a very public HIV test earlier this year and educational campaigns are in full swing. | |
| Boston Globe | ||
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2004/11/11 page A8 Donnelly, John | Madagascar faces a great risk for an increasing HIV epidemic because of its unusually high rates of sexually transmitted diseases, and because many adults acknowledge having sex with multiple partners. Yet the HIV prevalence rate in Madagascar was estimated at 1.7 percent at the end of last year, according to UNAIDS, extraordinarily low compared with southern Africa as a whole. Some specialists say the Indian Ocean insulates Madagascar from southern Africa, where nine countries have double-digit rates of HIV prevalence, including two with nearly 40 percent prevalence among people ages 15 to 49. Some say another protective barrier is that nearly 100 percent of boys are circumcised before puberty; in many nations, circumcised men have a far lower rate of HIV than uncircumcised men. Others think that the AIDS epidemic is still relatively young in Madagascar or that the estimates are incorrect. | |
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2004/11/20 page A8 Donnelly, John | Madagascar has started initiatives to encourage young people to adopt safer behavior, educating them about HIV transmission and encouraging prompt treatment for STIs. President Ravalomanana has spoken out several times to warn people against the spread of the disease and has created a Cabinet-level department to fight AIDS. One program, funded by USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and run by Population Services International, or PSI, has essentially created a network of youth-friendly health clinics in urban areas. Each doctor who joins the program receives training on how to treat STIs, as well as how to counsel teenagers and encourage them to get tested for HIV. |
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