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NEWS ROUNDUP: Peter Moszynski Sudanese health minister’s advocacy of condoms sparks protest BMJ 2006; 332: 1233 [Full text]

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Call for Sudanese Health Minister's Resignation misplaced

Eluzai. A Hakim   (27 May 2006)

Call for Sudanese Health Minister's Resignation misplaced 27 May 2006
Eluzai. A Hakim, Consultant Physician St.Mary's Hospital, Newport, Isle of Wight(UK),PO30 5TG Send response to journal: Re: Call for Sudanese Health Minister's Resignation misplaced	The call by the Muslim National Congress Party Members of parliament for Dr.Tabitha Sokaya, The Sudanese Health Minister, to resign over her encouragement of Sudanese to use the condom to stem the spread of AIDS smacks of hypocrisy.For a disease which has no effective treatment as yet, available evidence has shown that changes in sexual behaviour reduces transmission of the disease.In neighbouring uganda,the first country in East and Central Africa to admit the existence of Aids within its borders in the mid eighties, the incidence of AIDS has been shown to be falling there in the last five years mainly because of Health Education Programmes which emphasize changes in sexual behaviour by sexually active young men and women.A similar reduction in the incidence of the disease in the Sudan may be achieved if Representatives of the people cease to live in denial of the presence of this devastating disease in the country. Abstinence from sexual intercourse outside marriage, adoption of safer sexual practices which include the use of the condom and avoidance of multiple sexual partners are known to be effective preventive measures, only if the public is informed about them.Those MPs should stop sticking their heads in the sand.The grim AIDS statistics for the Sudan currently place the country in a uniquely unenviable position in the Middle East and North Africa.Besides transmission through heterosexual sex and intravenous drug abuse,the Ministry of Health should broach the taboo subject of homosexual and heterosexual sex which is said to be common in the business community in almost all Sudanese cities and offer appropriate advice to the public.Newspaper reports of merchants raping boys in Juba have caused massive riots in the past.This mode of sexual intercourse is a potent mode of AIDS transmission. Competing interests: Iam originally from Southern Sudan