United Press International - Friday, 1 December 2000

The program is one of two major HIV/AIDS prevention efforts launched Friday by Chilean organizations during World AIDS Day. The second program, called "Men Make A Difference," is designed to prevent the spread of the disease by and among men.

The condom distribution program will be start outside popular hang-outs in Santiago, where a dozen Injuv vans will circulate with young volunteers. The volunteers will pass out AIDS prevention information and condoms to young people.

Injuv Director Francisco Lopez said the goal of the program is to provide young people with complete information about the dangers of unprotected sex and other risky behaviors, including drug abuse and excessive consumption of alcohol.

"We want to encourage our youth to take a responsible position toward AIDS, which will only happen when they are conscience of the dangers of the disease and choose to protect themselves. That's what the volunteers are there for. If the young people want a condom they will get one, just as if it were earplugs or aspirin," Lopez said.

He said studies show the majority of young people are knowledgeable about safe sex practices, but "When things starts getting hot and heavy, they don't practice what they know."

The Injuv plan will be piloted in January and subsequently evaluated to determine its efficacy. The budget for the plan is set at $35,000, most of which will go toward supplies.

Meanwhile, "Men Make A Difference" takes a different tack to combat the spread of AIDS by specifically targeting men.

According to Ann Cristina Nogueira, the Chilean representative of the World Health Organization, "Men are more likely to contract the disease and therefore to spread it. They have more sexual partners than women, HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women than the reverse, and the majority of infections due to use of intravenous drugs are men as well."

Rodrigo Pascal, the director of Vivo Positivo, said that to be successful in combating HIV, "Men Make A Difference" would first have to combat Chile's pervasive machismo.

"The culture makes us believe that we are physically strong, emotionally solid and very daring -- that is to say, virile. For that reason, men can't get sick, or at least we can't get sick and still be sexually dominant. So we just don't talk about it for fear of being seen as emasculated," Pascal said.

The campaign is a joint project of the United Nations Program on HIV, the National AIDS Commission (Conasida), and Vivo Positivo, a Chilean program for people living with the virus.

According to Conasida statistics, there are currently 3,741 known cases of full-blown AIDS in Chile, and an additional 4,392 HIV carriers. But the organization cautions that HIV cases are dramatically underreported and that the real statistics is anywhere from 16,000 to 40,000. Of the country's known HIV cases, 89.7 percent affect men.
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