The health and wellness blog over at herbsr4u reminds us not to be too complacent with the aids virus. The article there goes on to say "while the news may suggest otherwise, HIV is still growing steadily worldwide. It is a massive epedemic, and despite the fact that certain specific programs have paid off recently, it is growing nonetheless.

There have indeed been various demographic changes to the disease recently. For one, India now ranks as the country with the highest HIV infection rate. What has caused India to surpass other countries in this unfortunate statistic? Evidentally it has to do with the culture and/or lifestyle. In India, a strongly patriarchical culture, condoms are disdained to the extent that a national campaign to disperse condoms actually caused rioting a number of years ago. In addition, the use of prostitutes is more widespread here than in many other countries, and a serious problem is the large number of brothels along the major roadways which are often visited by truck drivers. This has contributed substantially to the rapid spread the HIV virus to all corners of India.

And yet condom use is almost certainly the primary factor. In Thailand, for instance, it has been reported that males there spend more money on prostitutes relative to earnings than any other nation on the globe. But Thailand, after leading Asia in Aids cases for some time, is now seeing genuine progress in their fight against this disease. The key has been a strong condom-distribution plan.
Areas of Africa have reported simliar results from these programs.
In Europe, meanwhile, needle exchange programs have been among the most successful programs so far.