(Read On! ... occasional posts on writing we're reading) OK, haven't actually read this book, but John Donnelly's review compelled passing the word about The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS by scientist-author Helen Epstein (below). Donnelly tells of Epstein's rediscovery of forgotten research, by Maxine Ankrah, on a drop in Uganda's HIV rate a couple decades ago. The decrease had been attributed to increased condom use, but Ankrah linked it instead to increased faithfulness between sexual partners -- an "invisible cure" that leads Epstein to contend that "[w]hen it comes to fighting AIDS, our greatest mistake may have been to overlook the fact that, in spite of everything, African people often know best how to solve their own problems.”Donnelly writes of Epstein's book:
[T]he evidence she puts forward could provide a roadmap for comprehensive prevention programs that incorporate teaching abstinence, using condoms and, most critically, emphasizing fidelity. Indeed, Epstein’s animated consideration of debates on fidelity leaves me to wonder, and not for the first time, about the virtual silence on this issue by most African leaders. (Then again, a ruler like King Mswati III of Swaziland, who has something like 13 wives and whose country has an adult H.I.V. rate of greater than 30 percent, is not about to speak up.)
