From: Hermit (hidden@lucifer.com)
Date: Sat Jul 19 2003 - 11:43:14 MDT
Kids must learn morals to slow spread of HIV, expert advises
[Hermit] It should be noted that the Doctor in question represents and is sponsored by the Baha'i community, refer e.g. http://www.planetbahai.org/resources/news/news0902/renews090402a.html. He is abusing his medical credentials to advocate a religious program which has been demonstrated to be ineffective (e.g. Pinkerton SD, "A relative risk-based, disease-specific definition of sexual abstinence failure rates.", Health Educ Behav. 2001 Feb;28(1):10-20.) and those studies referenced at http://www.libchrist.com/sexed/bushagendaFDA.html as well as an excellent article, "Abstinence Is Foolproof? Think Again!" by Acacia Stevens, 16, Staff Writer, at http://www.sexetc.org/library/genLibArticle.asp?CategoryID=1280&ArticleID=art_1603
[Hermit] The "Liberal Christian" article (supra) indicates that the problem with the "ideology driven moralistic campaign" approach, articulated below, is a devastating lack of evidence.In March, George W. Bush asked Congress to grant him $135 million for abstinence-only education. It is interesting to note that such program was what Bush oversaw when he was governor of Texas. The results did not lend credence to what he preaches. During Bush’s term as governor, Texas ranked 49th out of 50 states in terms of teen births among 15-19 year-old females and a dead last in the decline of teen birth rates among 15-17 year olds. It should also be noted that the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy did a study in 2001 on abstinence-only programs. It found no significant impact of such education program on the teens’ initiation of or frequency of sex. Such finding led The American Medical Association, American Pediatrics Association and the National Academy of Science to oppose abstinence-only education.
Clearly, ideology-driven sex education is a bad practice. Let us do our part in stopping this government waste and the unethical pushing of the conservative agenda as “education.”
Source: El Paso Times (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20030719-138092.shtml)
Authors: Diana Washington Valdez
Dated: 2003-07-19
A world expert on HIV/AIDS says human behavior must change at a basic level in order to prevent the spread of the devastating sexually transmitted disease.
"The disease keeps spreading in different places, and this is because other solutions are not working," said Dr. Farzin Davachi, who has shared his views with heads of state, health ministers and other leaders in 49 countries. "A fundamental change is needed in human behavior, and this can only happen through the moral education of children. I believe that is the responsibility of the state. I also believe in spiritual education, but that is the responsibility of the parents."
Davachi is a professor of pediatric cardiology at New York Medical College and a Fulbright Senior Scholar. He is a consultant to the United Nations, Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization and World Bank.
Davachi spoke Friday night to various El Paso and regional physicians and will speak again at 1 p.m. today at the Hilton Inn-Telshor in Las Cruces. The meeting is open to the public.
He has served on the International Scientific Committee for AIDS. While he was a professor of medical education in the Congo, he organized a postgraduate medical education program and trained more than 1,000 doctors.
Uganda, he said, reduced its HIV infection rate in girls ages 15 to 19 to 7.3 percent from 38 percent in 1997 after the government adopted a program that taught abstinence and fidelity to schoolchildren. About 70 million people worldwide are infected with the AIDS virus, according to World Health Organization statistics.
"To be effective, we must reach children with this message before they reach puberty and become sexually active," Davachi said. "I was recently in New York state, where they passed legislation that requires character education."
Moral education, he said, includes acquiring truthfulness, respect, purity, obedience, justice, loyalty, perseverance, pursuit of excellence and other virtues. "The signs of moral crisis are all around us -- alcohol and drug abuse, violence, crime, hatred, prejudice, poverty, injustice. ... At present, solutions are aimed at relieving the symptoms rather than the underlying causes," Davachi said.
Dr. Nosrat Heidarian, an El Paso podiatrist, said Davachi's visit to the region presented "a once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity for local health experts and others to hear from a medical expert of his stature.
"The message he is emphasizing related to AIDS and HIV is significant," Heidarian said.
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