But you can also not only push condoms, and not think long term. There was a storm of protest from those who said the program had clear results. But the South African government said the drug regimen was still too expensive to help very many families, and what money was in the health budget should be spent on education campaigns with broader, if less quantifiable, reach. Almost everyone agrees that no African nation will avert or reverse the epidemic without swift and forthright leadership from top politicians. But Kenya's President Daniel Arap Moi and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe are cited as particularly reticent, and Nelson Mandela spoke forcefully to his country about AIDS last December, when infection had already reached 12 percent of South African adults.
Condoms are still key.
AIDS fighters have made strides in getting a product once practically unused in Africa, and still widely disdained and distrusted, into factory restrooms, army barracks and health clinics. Condoms, however, have their limits. If a quarter of the population is at risk, that covers less than four sex acts a year per person. Whom to target Another shift in thinking is who should be the target of anti-AIDS efforts. However, it has become apparent that in an epidemic spread by heterosexual relations, saving the next generation must be the focus, Dr. Piot said.