TV for April 2012
Tinderbox By Craig Timberg & Daniel Halperin
Patient zero in the aids epidemic may have been an African porter traveling cross-continent with a European caravan, sometime around 1900. From there, colonialism continued to contribute to the spread of HIV, write journalist Craig Timberg and anthropologist Daniel Halperin. The disruption of traditional African societies and rituals led to a culture of promiscuity and eliminated male circumcision, which accelerated the disease’s advance, since the foreskin can be a reservoir for HIV. Today, the emphasis Western nations place on using only condoms and medication to combat aids may actually add to Africa’s continued struggle with the scourge. Timberg and Halperin argue that it is time for the West to back an alternative approach: returning to circumcision and launching a public-relations blitz about the dangers of infidelity, a tactic that has already shown some success in Uganda.—Veronique Greenwood
Turing’s Cathedral By George Dyson
