Women more vulnerable?

Press, 23 March 1988, Page 46

Women more vulnerable?

L ■ I ' ■ ■ • i PA ; Hamilton (Women will suffer from A.I.D.S. more than! I men once it is established in thte community, slays the Health Department’s Auckland; heat development unit manager, Dr John McLeod. ' | IHe made the prediction during a four-day national hlii on i A.I.D.S. j at Te Awamutuj College’s marae. {The prediction was based on the African situation where A.I.D.S. was thought tq have existed for “some 30 years.” | j I “It is the same there as with every; other sexually transmitted disease — it

; is (women who .[suffer | most,” Dr McLeod said. [ Hte emphasised it was important for I New Zealanders to realise A.I.D.S. was not just [something to do with “a [bunch of queers”, but the con- | cern ~ of every human ( being. | | "Unless we do [some- | { think here before it is too I late! we are going [to see | hundreds of thousands of { people die,” he said. ; | Those who died were ■ going to be the I young I people because they were : the most likely to have , I had' many different!sexual [ i partners, lie said. | { This would be devastat- '

,ing foq society as those ' young people were its workers who supported thte very young and the bld. | “If we don’t do something soon it will be too {late. To|i me, A.I.D.S. I means something that can lead to the downfall of [ society, 1 ail society.” Earlier, Dr McLeod had described parts of Africa where [“there is no birth i of ,ife - ’ | “There is no sound of [ Children and no young i men 0 support families, I no wopien and the old j people {— most them have { igone too — because of a-

disease called A.1.D.5.,” ■ he said. Il J I I “It is yetey real. There are an estimated five to 10 million lin the world with the disease. I - “Everyonb is going to die and die: a lot younger than they otherwise would have and! they are going to die an unpleasant death.!, JJ' "Thtere? is nothing to suggest so far anyone will survivte if | they get the disease. Yqu can prevent it by I changing the way people behave sexually, i This is very difficult bei cause people ; don’t like talking abbut sex,” Dr McLeod said. [