Monday, March 19, 2007
A New Sorrow for Afghanistan: AIDS Joins List - N.Y. Times
In the deeply conservative country, H.I.V. remains underground, shrouded in ignorance and stigma.
Sitting and eating quietly on his father’s lap, the 18-month-old was oblivious to the infection in his veins. But his father, a burly farmer, knew only too well. It was the same one that killed his wife four months ago, leaving him alone with four children. The man started to cry.
“When my wife died, I thought, well, it is from God, but at least I have him,” he said. “Then I learned he is sick, too. I asked if there is medicine and the doctors said no. They said, ‘Just trust in God.’ ”
...
During his work in villages and refugee camps in Pakistan, he came across an unmarried man who had returned from the Arabian Peninsula infected with H.I.V. The man told his father, who, not understanding the consequences, told others.
Soon, villagers told the father he should kill his son. The son ended up locked in a brick cell in the family yard, with only a small opening where food was thrown in.
Dr. Bazger and his colleagues eventually rescued him and made a film about him, which has been shown on Afghan television.
[His organization] has also worked among women in the sex trade in Kabul. In a 2003 survey of 126 of the women by ORA, only one was familiar with condoms and only one had knowledge of H.I.V./AIDS. Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed were married. Eighty-four percent were illiterate. ...
In the deeply conservative country, H.I.V. remains underground, shrouded in ignorance and stigma.
Sitting and eating quietly on his father’s lap, the 18-month-old was oblivious to the infection in his veins. But his father, a burly farmer, knew only too well. It was the same one that killed his wife four months ago, leaving him alone with four children. The man started to cry.
“When my wife died, I thought, well, it is from God, but at least I have him,” he said. “Then I learned he is sick, too. I asked if there is medicine and the doctors said no. They said, ‘Just trust in God.’ ”
...
During his work in villages and refugee camps in Pakistan, he came across an unmarried man who had returned from the Arabian Peninsula infected with H.I.V. The man told his father, who, not understanding the consequences, told others.
Soon, villagers told the father he should kill his son. The son ended up locked in a brick cell in the family yard, with only a small opening where food was thrown in.
Dr. Bazger and his colleagues eventually rescued him and made a film about him, which has been shown on Afghan television.
[His organization] has also worked among women in the sex trade in Kabul. In a 2003 survey of 126 of the women by ORA, only one was familiar with condoms and only one had knowledge of H.I.V./AIDS. Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed were married. Eighty-four percent were illiterate. ...
Labels: AIDS
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