Silly, silly people!
I am somewhat gob-smacked though that the implication, even in this day and age, is that HIV/AIDS is a 'gay disease'! Mind you, I suppose with our 'brilliant' Minister of Health, the very honerable Manto, who does not even really accept the fact that AIDS requires anti virals - then of course I suppose that eating beetroot, garlic and lemon juice is a cure for most ailments, except of course when you require a liver transplant! then you need real medicine!
Gays say wording of transfusion 'insulting'
October 04 2006 at 11:04AM
By Dominique Herman
Recent changes to the questionnaire potential blood donors are required to fill out to make it less objectionable to the gay community are just as objectionable, says Glenn de Swardt of the Triangle Project, which describes itself as the oldest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organisation in Africa. Both the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) and the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service (WPBTS) have reduced the deferral period for gay men who practise oral and/or anal sex from five years to six months. The deferral period is the time during which donors are not accepted due to possible exposure to the HI virus and other diseases resulting from high risk behaviour.
'The risk isn't gay men. It's unsafe sex' De Swardt said the new wording of the questionnaire was "pretty insulting" and "irrational", and was not a move in the right direction. "The risk isn't gay men. It's unsafe sex," De Swardt said. It was important to have a safe blood supply and, as a result, the form needed to eliminate any reference to sexual orientation and focus on high-risk sex."Unprotected anal sex is high risk," he said - an activity that many heterosexuals engaged in and many homosexual men avoided. "The implication is that anal sex is endemic to gay men which is absolute nonsense."
In sub-Saharan countries, as opposed to the Northern hemisphere, Aids was heterosexually driven. There was no South African data available to support the notion that gay men were a high risk group, he said. There were talks earlier this year about rewording the phrase on the old form that caused a furore, "male-to-male sex", to "anal and oral sex" - a blanket reference which would apply to heterosexuals as well. However, that was decided against. According to SANBS chief executive, Loyiso Mpuntsha, until there was research to indicate that gay men were not a high risk group, the blood service could not reword its form. "International research suggests that men who have sex with men are still regarded as a high risk group," she said.
In response to De Swardt's comment that Aids was a heterosexually driven disease in Africa, she said: "Be that as it may, but for us to drop this kind of condition we would have to have evidence". SANBS was working with the Human Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council to develop local, independent scientific research on this issue, she added. WPBTS spokesperson Marika Champion said the questionnaire was a "working document". It was responsive to new developments in science as well as what the community thought of it - "to a certain degree". Deferral periods could be reduced because of individual donation nucleic acid amplification testing (Nat) which was introduced a year ago. Nat testing reduces to roughly two weeks the window period, during which a new HIV infection is undetectable in the blood. Although SANBS would launch its new form from November 1, the WPBTS would phase it in during October.
Recipients of blood components, stabbing victims, those with tattoos, body piercing and scarification - who carry a greater hepatitis risk - have also had their deferral period reduced from a year to six months.
This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Times on October 04, 2006
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