WorldPeace - "AIDS: The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse" by John WorldPeace on daily press photos

US singer Sean 'P Diddy' Combs performs during the HIV/AIDS awareness concert ´Staying Alive´ in Cape Town, Saturday. Meanwhile, the mortality figures released this week by Statistics South Africa provide a timely warning. (AFP photo)...

Aids continues to rip through the human population due to the impossibility of stopping the one pleasure that exists for even the poorest citizens of the world.

Africa is being ravaged by Aids but no one really cares. In America, it was stigmatized as a disease of homosexuals and drug addicts. In China, it is on the rise.

In America for about $10,000 per year one can stop the progression of the disease. But for people living on $350 per year, these drugs are unavailable and so they die a horrible death; but not before spreading the disease.

In the Christian Book of Revelation, in the end times death comes to a fourth of the population. This means about 1.5 billion people and if you do some rough calculations that would mean about 400 million die of plagues and disease. This is not an unreasonable number if you consider the continued infection of the world society with Aids; there are many other diseases like malaria that kill but they are a regular part of the global landscape and are nothing new.

The global interaction of citizens all over the world brings individuals from these infected areas to all parts of the globe and Aids continues to spread.

The richer nations feel immune because they have the money and the drugs to prevent certain death from Aids. But the reality is that this is a silent killer that is daily infecting more and more of the human population. The infection of America may come slower than other parts of the world but none-the-less all nations will be affected.

Therefore, we need to realize that the Aids problem in South Africa is the whole world's problem and therefore the entire world needs to get involved in reducing the spread of Aids and eventually eliminating the threat of Aids.

There is no doubt but that sexual restraint and having the good sense to use a condom (if you can afford one) are the best measures to avoid the disease. However, the biological urge is so great and the pleasures of sex are so satisfying and cheap that Aids is going to continue to strike the global population.

The sooner we acknowledge the global problem the sooner we will be able to eliminate the local threat.

THE mortality figures released this week by Statistics South Africa are a timely warning about our lifestyle as a nation.

Based on a 12% sample of 279 581 recorded deaths out of a total of two million between 1997 and 2001, the study's methodology is not in doubt, nor is its representivity.

The study found that the major cause of death, at 11%, were unnatural incidents such as road accidents, injuries, suicide and drowning. This was followed by ill-defined causes and tuberculosis at 8% each, HIV at 7% and influenza and pneumonia at 6%.

What this means is that violent deaths are the biggest killer in South Africa. It is a sobering reality of our time that more people die violently than from old age and disease.

The second point is that everyone knows that the attitudes of insurance companies towards Aids have a lot to do with the low disclosure levels of the true causes of death.

We therefore need to enter into a debate as a nation about how we deal with external factors that make correct data capturing so difficult.

Should we make Aids a notifiable disease? If so, what do we do with the existing stigma of the disease, fed by ignorance? What will that do to insurance policies and premiums? These are important questions that will need answers.

When the Medical Research Council issued results of a similar study last year and declared that 20% of adult deaths were caused by Aids, the government ordered a new investigation.

Given the stance it has taken at various times about the causes and impact of Aids, it was clear its hope was that Stats SA would produce "better" results.

It has not. Instead the results are essentially the same, for if the figures for "pure" HIV/Aids were added to about 50% of both TB and pneumonia deaths, HIV becomes the biggest killer, at about 14%.

The results also indicate that African women are the biggest group dying from identified Aids.

What can be done?

The debate about cause and effect must die a natural death - now. In its place must come a vigorous programme that must involve government, civil society organisations and individuals.

Aids is a lifestyle infection. No legislation can change people's sexual behaviour. A change in behaviour, preceded by an acceptance that Aids is real, is a good starting point.

Another study measuring the effectiveness of the government's Aids awareness campaign shows that 67% of South Africans now worry about getting Aids, compared with 47% two years ago. And 49% of those surveyed say they always use condoms during sex.

There is also progress in the destigmatising of the disease.

While the indicators are encouraging, mass information campaigns, empowerment lessons for women, and the promotion of the use of condoms and of drugs to curb the spread of infections need to be intensified.

How can we manifest peace on earth if we do not include everyone (all races, all nations, all religions, both sexes) in our vision of Peace?