Today is shaping up as chastity on the march day. First the news on a drop in the number of teens having sex (one item below) and now news that a change in sexual practices in Zimbabwe is curtailing the spread of AIDS.
Craig Timber of The Washington Post writes:
Alone among southern African countries, Zimbabwe has shown a significant drop in its HIV rate in recent years. A major reason, researchers say, is the changing sexual habits of men forced to abandon costly multiple relationships.
The story also advances the controversial thesis that grinding poverty helps slow the spread of AIDS:
Many researchers now suspect that economic vitality — expressed in rising truck traffic, burgeoning bar scenes and widening income disparity — encourage the behaviors that fuel a sexually transmitted epidemic. But as men get poorer, they pare back their relationships, making them less likely to contract or spread HIV.