HIV is spreading among members of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC’s) armed forces at an “extremely worrying” rate, said Mozambique Deputy Defense Minister Agostinho Mondlane (allafrica.com, 10/30).
At a military health services conference last week in Maputo, Mozambique, Mondlane said that current HIV rates “oblige us to redouble our efforts to develop changes in behavior among the public at large, and among soldiers in particular."
Mondlane encouraged military health personnel to work to fight the spread of HIV. However, other participants argued that recruits should be screened and barred from entering the armed forces if found to be HIV positive.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
