Myths, unsafe sex hamper AIDS prevention in a Mexican prison
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The New York Times lifts the veil on the AIDS epidemic in a Mexican prison in this report by Marc Lacey.
‘We are a population of men, and it’s normal for men to have sex with whoever is around,” said Guillermo, 32, a prisoner and peer educator who has HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. “There are some who don’t want to see it.” Even though scientific surveys of AIDS rates in Mexican prisons do not exist, the myths associated with the epidemic are pronounced among prisoners, and the sex that takes place is frequently unsafe, advocates say. The risk is significant enough that an American organization, Population Services International, has set up an AIDS awareness program inside this and four other Mexican lockups.
To read the full dispatch on AIDS in a Mexican prison, click here.
For a La Plaza report on orphans living with HIV in Mexico, click here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City