Like It Is

That HIV/AIDS is a plague that is ravaging the African continent should be the biggest story in the world. Fellow human beings are dying not by the tens or the thousands, but by the millions. Whole families, entire generations. Yet it barely even makes the front page of the media.

33 teenagers were killed in a senseless shooting last week. A totally murderous tragedy. Everyone is shocked at such a loss of life. But people are dying EVERY DAY from HIV/AIDS – millions. There is no such shock and little interest. Considering that the disease is wrecking countries on the African continent. On the human tragedy scale, I’d say it ranks pretty high. But (with a few notable exceptions) it barely makes the news these days and where it does it is a struggle to keep it there. How can that be? AIDS is preventable in the West. Why aren’t we ensuring antiretroviral drugs get to these sufferers?

Journalist Stephanie Nolan’s book 28 - Stories of Aids in Africa has just been published and caught my attention today. This is a part excerpt from the Globe and Mail: Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: AIDS, Stephanie Nolan, 28 - Stories of Aids in Africa

Seems to be Women’s Week with another first and another story that I thought worth highlighting.

First woman deputy follows heavy pressure from African states

Now this is what I call a rather more balanced write-up of a recent woman appointee, even though the appointment itself isn’t met by jubilation from all. This is because this appointee comes from the previous UN cabinet that had more than a few failings and most were hoping for a new broom.

“Sources said that Ban Ki Moon, the new UN chief, met her when he visited Tanzania, then on the 15-nation UN Security Council, during his campaign for the top UN job last year. She will be responsible for managing the unwieldy UN bureaucracy that has been plagued by corruption and sexual abuse scandals in recent years.

Mr Ban, a former South Korean Foreign Minister who began his five-year term at the United Nations this week, has promised “bold steps” to reform the organisation but his early appointments have disappointed UN staff.

They had called on him to bring about a “fundamental change in the mindset of senior management . . . from a relationship based on dominance, disregard and fear to a real partnership.” Instead, Mr Ban named two insiders from the scandal-scarred administration of Kofi Annan, his predecessor, to key internal posts.”

Doesn’t augur well, does it? But I like the bio,myself. Not a word about fluffy hair,make up or high heels at least in this report. No brood of children in her wake. All about her achievements and just one bullet point about her family status. That’s more like it. Maybe that’s why it didn’t make the wider networks. No sexy angle to be had here:

First lady