Simbao calls for sexual depressant drug in fight against HIV/AIDS

COMMENT - Simbao should go, along with Chituwo. 'Sexually depressant drugs'? These incompetent fools need to step down now. I wonder if Simbao and Chituwe wear helmets at dinner, just so they won't hurt themselves.

Simbao calls for sexual depressant drug in fight against HIV/AIDS
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Wednesday, April 08, 2009 4:47:17 PM

THERE is need to develop a sexual depressant drug in order to effectively fight the HIV and AIDS scourge, health minister Kapembwa Simbao suggested yesterday. Simbao said the recent continued rise in HIV and AIDS cases in the country especially among the sexually active group was a clear indication that condoms had failed in halting the spread of the pandemic.

"Since we have a drug viagra which enhances the sexuality of our people and most of the people, both the young and the old are using it, I think we should come up with a drug that depresses that [sexual] desire," Simbao told a high level meeting under the theme ‘Large-scale investments in upgrading transport infrastructure in southern Africa: implication for HIV and AIDS and health strategies’.

This was during the just-ended North/South Corridor pledging conference under the special session on HIV and AIDS, which was hosted by United Kingdom Minister of State for Department for International Development (DFID) Gareth Thomas.

Simbao, whose submission was focused on the truck driver-prostitute relationship, said while condoms played a crucial role in preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS, very few people were indulging in safer sex.

Simbao, who is also Senga Hill MMD member of parliament, argued that a sexual depressant drug would help especially married men to abstain from sex while they were on duties that kept them for a long time from their spouses.

"Most people don't actually believe that HIV is transmitted through sexual intercourse and in that effect, condom use has been very ineffective here [in fighting the spread of HIV]," he said. "You just have to look at condoms that are put in places where people are picking them...the condoms are staying longer than they should. It may sound inhumane but we need to take this radical decision to save human lives."

Simbao said the HIV and AIDS scourge continued to be a major drain on the country's resource adding that the annual budget on antiviral therapy had jumped to over US $21.1 million.

Simbao also complained that the rampant spread for HIV and AIDS gave an impression that the government was not doing enough to contain the pandemic when in real sense it was negligence on the part of some individual citizens.

But Thomas said the use of condoms could not be abandoned purely on the basis of low use.

Thomas said while the introduction of a sexually depressant drug could be a very effective tool in containing the spread of HIV and AIDS in the long-term, immediate solution lay in increasing education and awareness on the importance of safer sex.