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SOUTH AFRICA - A high-speed condom, designed in South Africa, is poised to take safer sex to new heights in a nation grappling with soaring HIV infection rates.
Roelf Mulder, co-designer of the product, said he hoped its aesthetic appeal would help change the latex prophylactic usually thought of as a passion killer into a passion filler, while also preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
“This product is not only designed to help reduce the rate of contamination and infection by ensuring users do not touch the condom, but it can also be easily applied in the dark,” he told IRIN/PlusNews.
Mulder stressed that the incorrect application of a condom or accidentally rupturing it with the fingernails could lead to the potential spread of STIs.
The new more hygienic condom is opened by means of two thumb-sized handles, which are used to slide it onto the penis. It can only be applied in one way. The applicator then pops off the bottom, and the entire operation is complete in just three seconds, compared to the 30 to 40 seconds needed to don the traditional or government issue item.
Welcoming the innovative addition to this well-known preventive tool, local sexual behavior experts expressed concern that the product might become a “fleeting novelty” due to its limited market appeal and slightly higher cost.
Clinical sex therapist Elna McIntosh said, “Hopefully the applicator will not become a luxury and end up gathering dust on store shelves as a result of its retail price.”
Although the product is not yet available on the market, Mulder said his company was looking at a cost of between US$3 and $4 (about R28) each, but this could drop dramatically if the product was included in the government’s free condom roll out campaign.
The South African government distributes 30 million free male condoms per month and recently announced plans to more than double this in coming months.
Mulder started thinking about ways of enhancing condom usage after looking at the research into South Africa’s HIV prevention problem and finding that “low condom use was still a real factor” in the ongoing spread of HIV and other STIs.
“The intention of the applicator is to make more people use condoms more readily … this is a small product that could have one of the biggest impacts on our social, cultural and economic future,” he said.
An estimated 5.5 million people are living with HIV and Aids in South Africa - one of the world’s highest figures.
from Press Release
SOUTH AFRICA - Patrons of a popular Port Elizabeth Thai restaurant have expressed shock and outrage after getting an eyeful of "gay pornography" adorning the walls of the men’s toilets.
Narai Siam patrons told of their horror and disbelief at seeing graphic pictures depicting men about to engage in sex with one another, caricatures of men with giant members, and full-frontal photos of sexually aroused men, in the toilets.
The images can also be seen by diners on their way to the adjacent women’s toilets -- which are decorated with pictures of fairies.
Some patrons have called for signs warning of the unsuitable material, while others called for the restaurant to be closed.
Johannesburg businessman Jeff Rom, who dined at the restaurant with his wife while on holiday in the city last week, said he was surprised local diners had not yet spoken out about the "disgusting pornography".
"It goes beyond tasteful nudes – it’s outright pornography and it’s disgusting," said Rom, adding there were several young children at the venue when he and his wife were there. "I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere. I’ve travelled to Thailand but there was nothing like this there -- even as a man of 55 I found it shocking."
Psychologists have warned parents to keep children away from the restaurant for fear they could be exposed to the graphic material which saw "the innocence of children being abused".
Port Elizabeth psychologist Eugenie Apostolis said while it was unlikely the sight of the pornography would incite deviant behaviour among children, there was no place for it in a restaurant that was regularly visited by families. "The whole world is trying to protect children from this type of thing . . . but at the restaurant there is nothing to protect the child."
While Apostolis called on the restaurant to either remove the pornography or put up visible warnings, Port Elizabeth head of the organised crime unit Superintendent Willie O’Connell said the exhibition of any pornography was illegal.
"No place accessible to the public is allowed to exhibit pornographic material, or any material that would offend the public," he said.
"They (the restaurant) could even face closure if their case comes before the liquor board and they decide to take away the restaurant’s licence."
Walmer resident Brian MacKenzie, who recently dined at the venue, feared for boys who would be exposed to the pornography. "I was very taken aback when I saw the images.
"It’s not something you’d expect to find in a restaurant and I don’t think families with young children should go there."
MacKenzie added the toilet door was left open, allowing women and girls on their way to the women’s toilets a full view of the graphic material inside.
Sunridge Park resident Debbie Soper, who dined at the restaurant with her husband and friends, called the display "appalling". "Youngsters cannot handle that sort of thing. The pornography belongs in a gay bar, but not in a family restaurant. It’s immoral,” she said.
Rom said when he complained to the restaurant owner, he was laughed at. "I told the owner his toilet was in bad taste. But he just laughed in my face."
But co-owner Colin Beelders, who runs the restaurant with his life partner Kajohn Arun, denied they had set out to offend patrons. "The pictures are not porn -- they’re possibly risque, but I have never had anyone come up to me and complain about them," he said, adding he would consider putting up a warning sign. "You see this sort of thing in art galleries, and most patrons find the pictures funny, believe it or not."
from The Sunday Times
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - TV programs such as the South African version of "Sesame Street" are helping the fight against HIV/Aids in the country, which has the highest HIV infection rate in the world, according to a survey released last week.
The survey was conducted among 8,000 South Africans ages 15 to 65 by John Hopkins U., Health Development Africa, the Center for Aids Development, Research and Evaluation and the Soul City Institute.
The shows the survey focused on included dance drama series "Tsha Tsha," reality-based youth drama "Soul City" and "Takalani Sesame," which includes an HIV-positive Muppet.
All are from pubcaster the SABC, broadcast mostly in indigenous languages and include AIDS issues in storylines.
The results showed that 60% of people who had seen 10 or more episodes used condoms, compared with 34% of those who had not seen any programs. The number of people who have come forward to be tested had doubled over the past year.
The shows create an environment that allows open AIDS discussion, says researcher Dr. Lawrence Kincaid, associate scientist in the department of health at John Hopkins U.
Kincaid says "Tsha Tsha," seen by 14 million people "at some time or another," has "significant impacts" on condom use, testing and the discussion of the subject in communities.
"Soul City," which could reach 70% of the population, plays a big role in reducing the stigma attached to the disease and "Takalani Sesame" is sensitizing children about the issue at a young age.
However, the impact of the behavior change will take five to 10 years to work through the population, he says, and more research is needed to improve the targeting of messages to the public.
from Variety
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - The South African National Blood Service will allow gay men, who have been celibate for six months, to donate blood from November 1.
The SANBS said this was one of the changes in a more streamlined questionnaire for blood donors, the SABC reported on Sunday.
"We will be able to start with these new forms and questionnaires on November 1," said SANBS spokesperson Dr Sam Gulube.
In January the SANBS announced its plan to reword the questionnaire that potential blood donors are required to fill out to make the forms more "gender sensitive", South African-oriented and less objectionable to the gay community.
Gulube said the delay was because of logistical reasons.
It was the phrase - "male-to-male sex" - anal and oral performed with or without protection, which caused a furore on the existing form.
If the form was reworded to say "anal and oral sex", it would apply to heterosexuals too, SANBS spokesperson Ianthe Exall said.
Glenn de Swardt of the Triangle Project, the oldest gay organisation in Africa, said Aids was a heterosexually driven pandemic on the continent. But the medical standards employed by the blood centres to exclude gay men were based on statistics from countries where Aids was a homosexually driven pandemic.
"Anal sex is high-risk activity. Not all homosexual men engage in anal sex and lots of heterosexuals do," he said.
from Independent Online
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma has apologised unreservedly for the pain and anger his recent remarks about gays and lesbians may have caused.
In a statement on Thursday, Zuma said he had noted his remarks at the "Shaka Day commemoration" in kwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday had been interpreted in various ways, and might have hurt and angered the gay and lesbian community.
The remarks were made in the context of the traditional way of raising children, he said.
He had commented in particular about the manner in which communities tended to neglect boys and over-emphasise the traditional upbringing of girls, as evidenced in ceremonies such as the reed dance.
"I said the communal upbringing of children in the past was able to assist parents to notice children with a different social orientation.
"I however did not intend to have this interpreted as a condemnation of gays and lesbians."
The Constitution clearly stated that nobody should be discriminated against on any grounds, including sexual orientation, and he upheld and abided by the Constitution, Zuma said.
"Our lesbian and gay compatriots are protected by the Constitution and I respect their rights, in my capacity as an individual citizen and as a member and one of the leaders of the ANC.
"I also respect, acknowledge and applaud the sterling contribution of many gay and lesbian compatriots in the struggle that brought about our freedom, and the role they continue to play in the building of a successful non-racial, non-discriminatory South Africa.
"I apologise unreservedly for the pain and anger that my remarks may have caused," Zuma said.
from Independent Online
JOHANNESBURG - Thousands of Christians sang, prayed and chanted "hallelujah" as they marched through South African cities on Saturday against a bill that would make the nation the first on the continent to legalize gay marriage.
The protests, spearheaded by the conservative African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), came days before a parliamentary committee holds hearings on a bill that would accord same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual ones.
At the parliament building in Cape Town, protesters opposed to the Civil Unions Bill presented a memorandum to home affairs portfolio committee chairman Patrick Chauke that demanded a constitutional amendment to "protect" traditional marriage.
Simultaneous marches were staged in other cities, including Johannesburg.
"The institution of marriage has been the cornerstone of civilised society for thousands of years," Steve Swart, an ACDP member of parliament, was quoted as saying by the SAPA news agency.
"Traditional marriages, in which one man and one woman create a lasting community, pass on time-honoured family values to secure the future and, therefore, are worthy of protection," said Swart, the party's justice critic.
South Africa's cabinet approved the bill last month after the country's highest court ruled it was unconstitutional to deny gay people the right to marry.
The court gave parliament one year to change the law.
Gay rights activists applauded the move, while religious groups, including the Catholic, Anglican and Dutch Reformed churches, opposed altering the current law, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
If enacted, the bill would place South Africa, which is predominantly Christian, among a handful of mostly European countries that allow same-sex marriage and make it the first to do so in Africa, where homosexuality remains largely taboo.
The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Canada already sanction gay marriages. Many African countries, however, outlaw homosexuality and turn a blind eye to the persecution of gays and lesbians.
from Reuters
