Almost 30 years on from the first diagnosis of HIV/AIDS are we really any closer to eradicating this rampant virus that destroys the lives of families around the world?

The UNAids report speaks of reductions in new infections and fewer Aids related deaths but are we really doing enough? Or has HIV/AIDS gone out of fashion? We are making progress but it is painfully slow.

Twitter is full of facts today that show we really have such a long way to go.

7000 people are infected with HIV every day. Nearly 1000 babies are infected in Sub Saharan Africa every day through Mother to child transmission. 90% of babies born with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa. Without treatment up to half will die by age 2.

Around 370,000 children are born with HIV each year. Each one of these infections is preventable,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS. “We have to stop mothers from dying and babies from becoming infected with HIV.

But this morning, reading the Guardian newspaper I was disappointed to discover only one VERY small article about HIV/AIDS on WAD 2010. It seems that only if you have a vested interest in HIV/AIDS do you go out of your way to find out the progress countries are making in reducing rates.

HIV/AIDS seems to no longer be at the forefront of people’s minds. South Africa alone needs around $88 BILLION between now and 2031 to attempt to halt the spread of the virus. The amount needed to have any impact world wide must be almost unfathomable.

We need a prevention revolution. NOW

The notion that religion is a thing of peace and love became even harder for me to swallow on Friday evening, watching the incredible series “Unreported World” on Channel 4. This week the focus was on Islamic schools is the West African country Senegal.

Boys go to schools away from their family, seeing them perhaps once a year if they are lucky, to “learn the Qur’an” but end up on the streets begging for money to take back to their so-called teachers, or Marabouts as they are formally known. If they do not return with the specified amount of money, they will be beaten. With wires, bicycle chains, anything to hand…

I truly believe that religion just does NOTHING good for Africa. If it isn’t Catholicism preventing the use of condoms, it is abuse in the name of learning a holy book.

It is the playground of the rich and famous. The lakes are renowned for their beauty. Tuscany is talked about in most glossy travel magazines. Rome is the destination for lovers. There are even websites with ideas on the best places in the city to propose. Jamie Oliver made a whole cookery series based on food from the country and now has a chain of restaurants showcasing that food.

But behind all this beauty is a country in a mess, an incredibly racist state, increasingly in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Whilst reading Sunday 10/1/10′s Observer, I came across an article highlighting Italy’s not so pleasant reality. The headline “Italians cheer as police move African migrants out of town after shootings” could not fail to catch my eye. People who came to Italy in search of a better existence are being treated like animals, being “shot at, severely beaten and run over”. This has now escalated into “ethnic cleansing” and the creation of the world’s “only white town”. Is anyone concerned?

The treatment of black footballers has also made international news. A black Italian by the name of Mario Balotelli has got the footballing mafia incredible riled.

Balotelli was born to Ghanaian parents in Sicily. Abandoned by those parents at the age of 2, Balotelli was brought up by adoptive parents in the town of Brescia, is an Italian passport holder and speaks with the accent of the region. Balotelli is not an African footballer playing in Italy, he IS Italian. This seemingly is the worst possible thing for the fans.

He has reportedly had bananas thrown at him by Roma fans. He retaliated by poking his tongue out when scoring a goal against the team, only to be told that he “deserved a slap” by the captain, number one goal scorer and most capped player, Francesco Totti.

But the abuse isn’t just from Roma fans and players, Juventus fans have been banned from their own stadium. There have been massive fines for the club AND questions in Parliament. None have done anything to prevent the racist chants at games.

If Balotelli responds to the abuse, by saying how “disgusting” he thinks it is, he is deemed “an immature and arrogant child” by the MAYOR of Verona. It is not only the fans that abuse him but members of the community who should be setting an example.

These are just two recent examples. Sadly there are many more to be found. The facts are quite shocking.

Italy, a country that only has one black member of parliament. Italy, where the government has appointed commissioners to “deal” with the Roma gypsies in Rome, Naples and Milan. Where that same government has ordered the gypsy population to be fingerprinted. Italy, where those same gypsies live in shocking, squalid, third world conditions. Where two-thirds of Italians want Gypsies expelled, whether they hold Italian passports or not. A country where people continued to top up their tans while two young gypsy girls’ bodies lay on the sand in front of them. Italy, a country where the deputy mayor of Treviso, Giancarlo Gentilini of the racist, xenophobic Northern League, stated that Muslim immigrants should go “piss in their own mosques”.

In the Vatican’s editorial, L’Osservatore Romano said: ‘Italy needs to deal with its racism, it is a weeping sore that needs to be treated.”

Here’s hoping that the Pope’s word still carries some weight in this strongly Catholic country. A country that clearly has a long way to go before the behaviour of many can be considered even remotely “Christian”. Before Italians can again call themselves the brava gente.

Children around the world suffer in all manner of unpleasant ways. As if poverty, malnutrition and disease aren’t bad enough, children have been suffering at the hands of religion.

“Dispatches” covered the shocking treatment of children in a southern state in Nigeria.

Attacked and abused in the name of religion. Abused by their family. Abused because parents were conned into believing their children were witches. Abused because they were believed to be the cause of any suffering in their communities.

The children were shown to have wounds all over their bodies, wounds inflicted in an attempt to make them confess to being a witch. Had fatal acid burns. Had the lifeblood sucked out of them by the people that should have been protecting them. Their families.

All in the name of religion.

This abuse was highlighted by an incredible man by the name of Gary Foxcroft. A man who saw the injustices children were facing and knew that he had to do something about it. A man who set up a charity to raise awareness and funds to change these children’s lives around.

The governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, was made aware of the situation and chose to do the right thing. To act in the interests of those suffering. The children.

He insisted that, “the state government will not hesitate to destroy or demolish any church engaged in any negative and unproven vision in order to satisfy their clients.”

“We will destroy and demolish every church that is engaged in any stupid vision in Akwa Ibom State. We will not stop there, we will have to make examples out of some people. We will chase out some churches in the state which are found wanting.
“The churches are busy deceiving people in many aspects including avoiding deaths. We have to do something to re-strengthen the Child Right Law. We must fight against the abuse of children and ensure proper education for them,” he said.

Thanks to the commitment of Godswill Akpabio, the children of Akwa Ibom State are being supported and their rights upheld.

But this is not just an African problem. Something similarly shameful has happened a lot closer to home.

The children in Ireland sadly didn’t have someone to protect them from the injustices they were suffering. They needed a Gary Foxcroft. Instead they had Catholic Archbishops who covered up the abuse they suffered at the hands of priests, deeming the reputation of the church more important than the children in their care. Instead of a Godswill Akpabio, they had members of the police willing to turn a blind eye to what they knew was going on behind closed doors.

A known four archbishops covered up abuse that spanned several decades in the Dublin archdiocese - such a shame that three of the four are now dead and cannot be held accountable for the harm that they have caused.

When are people going to realise? Religion does far more harm around the world than it heals.

Is it really true that on the streets of Miami, an AK-47 is cheaper to buy than a playstation?

I personally hate computer games and think that people who play games like Grand Theft Auto should have their heads read. But if you can buy a real gun and shoot real people for less money then maybe I should be championing the playstation after all.

What a sad state of affairs. God bless America eh?

Stabbing rates are running high in the UK. 322 in total last year. The police are being stricter about people caught carrying knives. But what is being done to prevent people from carrying a knife in the first place???

According to BBC news magazine (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8101032.stm), someone has designed an anti-stab knife!

Call me a cynic but is that the best we can do??? Would money not be better spent helping and educating the people at risk of committing knife crime? Time spent encouraging people that there are other options. That carrying a knife is not the answer.

There are countless unsafe knives in people’s kitchens all over the UK. Is there going to be a “hand in your knives” campaign, encouraging people to swap their knives for the safe variety?

Sadly, if people are prone to violence, they will commit it with out without a knife. The key surely, is dealing with the cause of the violence, not the weapon of choice.

Listening to a very loud mobile phone conversation today waiting for the train to depart Enfield Town station just showed that this country is in serious need of some help.

A sketchy looking character was talking to, presumably, a friend of his…chatting away about how his girlfriend was on at him to get a job. When he decided to fill his friend in on a secret…don’t tell me Dad or nothing but the girlfriend’s pregnant. It has happened a couple of times but this time she wants to keep it. He then went on to add that he would tell his Dad “when she starts to get fat”.

Is it so bloody hard to wear a condom? Or take the pill? How can someone with no job contemplate having a baby? I don’t know what is worse…people being so stupid that they don’t use protection, people using abortion as a form of contraception or bringing a child into this world without any ability to look after it.

It is about time the government made sex education compulsory for EVERY single pupil in the school system. No cop outs, no parental opt outs. Sex ed for all. Or this country will continue to go to the dogs!

Is religion good for anything?

The Pope has gone to visit Africa. How awfully good of him, his first Papal visit to the continent. He’s gone to do great things I hear you hoping. No. Of course not.

“HIV/Aids is a tragedy that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem” says his popeship.

How are condoms increasing the problem? I suppose the only way to prevent the spread of HIV is through abstinence in his eyes.

Condoms are a barrier method to HIV/Aids which WORK as long as they are distributed along with education on how to use them (a case proven by the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa www.tac.org.za).

Sometimes I just wish that someone would put an end to religion and the people who speak out for it.

Every time I see the advert claiming that God “DEFINITELY” exists, the more riled up I seem to get. I now find myself closing my eyes whenever I see a bendy bus driving past me, simply as damage control for my increasingly high stress levels. The advert that counters “the foolishness” of the atheist ad seems to be haunting me.

“Notwithstanding such foolishness, atheists and humanists are, of course, a minority group” I am proud to put myself within the so-called (“of course”) minority group spoken of by Rev George Hargreaves.

“The Bible is clear that only a fool says “There is no God” (Psalm 53). Even then such a fool only says so inwardly in their heart.” I will say loudly THERE IS NO GOD and urge the Reverand to show me his scientific proof. I suppose that he would claim that only a fool would not believe him.

Every twelve hours, the same number of people killed at the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 (3,000), perish from AIDS in Africa.

Bush’s war on terrorism and all the media attention it received is shocking when faced with that statistic. Yes, I don’t doubt that the people that lost their lives in 9/11 were innocent victims. But how can the world ignore or be so unaware of the fact that THREE THOUSAND people die every TWELVE HOURS from AIDS in Africa.  3,000 victims of AIDS. 3,000 victims of poverty. Dying every 12 hours. Going unnoticed.

We draw such attention to one off acts that we fail to see what is happening in the world every single DAY.

In a single YEAR, 150,000 African mothers – half the number of people killed in the 2004 Asian tsunami – die, JUST GIVING BIRTH.

Are we in Europe doing anything to protect African women, ensuring that they don’t die in child birth? Are we trying to find a cure for AIDS or helping educate those in rural areas who do not understand the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and how it is transmitted?

Is there any money left after the EU spends $350 BILLION a year on subsidies to protect its farmers? An amount equal to Africa’s entire annual income and 14 times the aid the continent receives. Is that really what we should be spending our money on?