HIV Risk From Lies and Half Truths

In the run up to the World Cup in South Africa, the excuse for talking exclusively about sexual behaviour and HIV risk and ignoring any other risks, such as the risks of medical transmission, seems to be that sexual transmission is the most common form of transmission in African countries.

The view that sexual transmission is so common that non-sexual transmission is almost negligible is debatable and the official figures are based on guesswork rather than proper research. But even if the figures were correct, it would be stupid to ignore non-sexual risks just because sexual transmission is more common.

Driver error may be a common cause of road traffic accidents but I wouldn't want to ignore the fact that my breaks are worn out just because it is a less frequent cause of accidents.

We know that the UN worries about medically transmitted HIV enough to warn its own employees about it:

"Use of improperly sterilized syringes and other medical equipment in health-care settings can also result in HIV transmission. We in the UN system are unlikely to become infected this way since the UN-system medical services take all the necessary precautions and use only new or sterilized equipment. Extra precautions should be taken, however, when on travel away from UN approved medical facilities, as the UN cannot ensure the safety of blood supplies or injection equipment obtained elsewhere. It is always a good idea to avoid direct exposure to another person’s blood — to avoid not only HIV but also hepatitis and other bloodborne infections."

So why not warn soccer fans and other visitors to South Africa and other African countries? More importantly, why not warn all Africans, most of whom have no option but to use their medical facilities, no matter how inadequate they are?

Sure, international health institutions want people to trust their health facilities enough to get medical treatment when they need it, to get tested for things like HIV and to take the advice of health professionals. But is that a reason to deceive the public?

The public might be afraid that official sources are lying to them or that they are keeping something back. But official sources are lying to them and keeping something back. All over Africa, there have been clear outbreaks of medically transmitted HIV. These have been covered up or just ignored and no investigations have been carried out.

Even if only a handful of HIV infections were caused by medical transmission, people should be made aware that the possibility exists. They should be in a position to protect themselves, to insist on sterilized equipment and other safe practices. If they don't even know that unsafe medical procedures occur, they will not know that they need to protect themselves.

But there is little question about whether medical transmission of HIV is common in African countries. Medical facilities have long been underfunded, understaffed and otherwise inadequate. It would be more surprising if very few transmissions of HIV occurred than if a sizeable number occurred. The only question is about how common medical transmission is compared to sexual transmission.

In the long run, people will have more confidence in public health information and in public health facilities if they are told the truth now. Those trusted to provide people with the information they need to stay healthy are not presently entitled to that trust. Maybe people will question the safety of health facilities once they realise that things have been kept from them. But as things stand, they are right to ask questions.

If it is risky for UN employees to trust medical facilities that are not approved by the UN, it is also risky for soccer fans. And if it's risky for visitors to Africa to mistrust medical facilities, it is also risky for Africans. No amount of abstinence, faithfulness to one partner or condom use will protect people from medically transmitted HIV. HIV can be, and often is, transmitted by medical and dental treatment and by cosmetic treatment such as tattooing, piercing and hairdressing, in African countries. It is not just transmitted by 'unsafe' sex.