Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0001175 (AIDS)
 120,706 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Participants at a 2-day workshop on AIDS in Zambia concluded that women must openly discuss high-risk sexual behavior with their partners, if they are to protect themselves and their children. Entitled "Basic facts about AIDS," the workshop identified marital infidelity as the greatest source of risk. Last year, a study revealed that, on average, men and women in Zambia had 2-3 sexual partners outside marriage. Demographic and cultural factors also contribute to the spread of AIDS. Zambia's sexually active population is large, since people marry at a very young age. The traditional practice of "dry sex" -- intercourse that involves male penetration of a tight, dry vagina -- causes internal abrasions, thereby facilitating the transmission of HIV. Even traditional sex education undermines efforts to control the spread of AIDS, since "bamachimbusas" (traditional sex educators) counsel girls to be subservient to their husbands and "never say no." Boys receive no sex education at all. Meanwhile, Zambia faces an alarming HIV and AIDS trend, according to statistics collected by the Society for Women and AIDS (SWAAZ): in 1991, 12.5% of blood donors in Lusaka and 7.5% of donors nationwide were infected with HIV; infection among pregnant urban women ranged from 25-29%; 21% of malnourished children and 32% of children with tuberculosis are infected. Furthermore, it is estimated that by 1990, the AIDS epidemic had already orphaned 80,000 children. By the year 2000, it is believed that 1/2 million children will have lost at least one parent to the disease.
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PMID:Winds of change in Zambia. 1231 34