AIDS in Africa has never commanded the full-bore response the West has brought to other, sometimes lesser, travails. McGeary spent three weeks in the heart of Africa s epidemic South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe reporting on the people whose lives the disease has afflicted, the orphans it has left behind, and the individuals who continue to knowingly and unknowingly spread the disease. Everybody s guessing. One U.S. clinic that does offer tests in Francistown, Botswana stands practically empty because of the stigma. But people are so stigmatized even if they walk in the door.
Poverty plays a major role in the transmission of the disease as well.
A poor woman can take home enough money to eat for a week through and evening of prostitution. In addition, poor male migrant laborers, who leave their homes in search of jobs engage in extra-marital sex and then take the disease home to their wives. We can t help you. Go home and die. Last May, President Bill Clinton, over resistance from the Republican Congress, issued an Executive Order promising that the U.S. would not challenge laws in African countries that seek to improve access to AIDS drugs.