FIFA needs to let groups hand out condoms at World Cup stadiums

Participating at the World Cup in South Africa, HIV/AIDS awareness groups will be located at health centers where condoms and other sex education materials will be available. Originally, however, these South African AIDS organization asked to dispense the condoms and goods at the stadiums, according to VOA News. FIFA, the International Federation of Association Football, refuses to let these groups into the stadiums and has isolated them to the health centers that will be located with other vendors.

Rhulani Lehloka, communications manager for the AIDS Consortium in Braamfontein, told VOA News that, “The (HIV) prevalence rate in our country is the highest in the world. And we have the interests of the visitors at heart, but we’re also having the interests of the people of South Africa at heart.” All of the groups consider the passing out of condoms to be a “holistic” approach to HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2008, the latest solid statistics, approximately 33.4 million people are currently living with HIV, 2.7 million of which were newly infected in 2008. Deaths in 2008 alone attributed to AIDS/HIV, was around 2 million people worldwide.

While the yearly number of people infected with HIV is decreasing, and has by almost 1 million in the last 10 years, transmission is still easy on continents like Africa where socioeconomics, poor health access and malnutrition all play an underlying role in the transmission of HIV/AIDS. The prevalence of AIDS is not lowering in Africa, but is rising. Of the 33.4 million living with AIDS, about 23 million of those live in Africa. As of 2009, in South Africa, 16.9 percent of the population is living with AIDS, the fifth highest percentage in all of Africa (Swaziland, 25.9 percent; Botswana, 25 percent; Lesotho, 23.4 percent; and Zimbabwe, 19.1 percent).

Apparently, FIFA needs HIV awareness, and should allow these groups to distribute condoms and information. What is the harm?

Land important in studying economics and culture, but not only factor

Ancient centres of origin of plant and animal domestication — the nine homelands of food production — are indicated by the orange-shaded areas on the map. The most agriculturally productive areas of the modern world, as judged by cereals and major staples, are indicated by the yellow-shaded areas. Note that there is almost no overlap between the areas highlighted, except that China appears on both distributions, and that the most productive areas of the central United States today approach areas of the eastern United States where domestication originated. The reason why the two distributions are so different is that agriculture arose in areas to which the wild ancestors of the most valuable domesticable crops and animals were native, but other areas proved much more productive when those valuable domesticates reached them.

Source: "Evolution, consequences and future of plant and animal domestication"

Jared Diamond. Nature 418, 700-707(8 August 2002) doi:10.1038/nature01019

In studying humans, a variation of aspects is used to understand behavior and the empirical world we’ve created. In a recent article by ScienceNOW, information originally used to track moth development was refined and retooled to see how humans used the land. Looking at several aspects of climate and soil, the simulation looked at how the four main subsistence types (farming, sedentary animal husbandry, nomadic wandering, and hunting and gathering) had played out in reality to what the soil and climate could supposedly bear. The study had an error of about one-third, with modern day culture coinciding with a majority of their findings.


This plays along with many theories about the development of agriculture and its effect on human “advancement.” Jared Diamond, for example, in “Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies,” describes the importance of geography in cultural and even genetic change. Lands on the East-West axis (i.e. Eurasia) versus the North-South axis (i.e. Africa) would have quicker advancements and population booms because of the availability of domesticable plants and animals. This holds true when compared to how many plants and animals have been domesticated in these regions historically. These areas have shifted slightly to other more hospitable climates as it has changed, such as from eastern United States to western. But it does show an implication of why we see technological, economical and agricultural development in the patterns that we do.

One large problem, however, is that the article claims the finding, “may help explain why some regions are more prone to violence than others.” It is one thing to assert that the environment was a large contributing factor to how cultures developed their subsistence strategies and technologies across the world. However, in no way does this assert that violence would occur less on the East-West axis – a formidable study would need to be done because this assumes geography is a superior factor to the formation of culture. This is called geographical determinism. Violence cannot be understood from geography alone or as the determining device, and it would absurd to think competition for resources can be reduced to the sole reason for the world’s problems. Backing up to the fact that the study failed to present current land uses with what the model projected one-third of the time is evidence that biology, culture and psychology are also triggering reasons for human behavior.

Thankfully, the researchers of the study acknowledged this in their study, however, headlines led readers a different direction. At the very end of the study, the researchers write: “[W]e know that human societies and economies went through historical development, so ignoring history may not always be the best strategy to understand causalities. … Nevertheless, our ‘null model’ will be a useful tool in identifying regions that require further investigation to understand additional processes that shape the distribution and performance of human economic traits.

Many parts of the world still lack toilets

 Gorakpur, India: "Open Air Toilet" /rpd1001 on Flickr

Public restrooms are a luxury developed countries don't think twice about. In fact, we wouldn't even think to consider public restrooms, or a working toilet in general, as a luxury, but a necessity. Well, world leaders are beginning to realize how necessary proper sanitation is still needed in many parts of the world. In an article by The New York Times, the World Health Organization and UNICEF do say the problem is lessening, however, 1.1 billion people are still defecating in public.

When I traveled to Brasil, the same issues were encountered. (See blog entry here.) It was even to the point that when it rains everyone knows to avoid the "piss puddles" that gather from rain runoff on the streets, and to always wash your feet once you get home. A 20-year-old student, who after telling him how the U.S. deals with people who defecate in public, had a different reaction than expected. He said he wishes the Brasilian government dealt with it just as harshly, so that people would actually be deterred and find a public restroom.

Sign on the dangers of open defecation. / Ajay Tallam on Flickr (and below)

The solution, however, isn't as simple as "finding a public restroom." This is actually the very problem -- these restrooms largely do not exist in developing nations. In more urbanized nations like India, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan, the report released says that 44 percent of residents in these countries engage in "open defecation."

In 2001, a nonprofit organization, World Toilet Organization, was founded in order to improve "sanitation conditions worldwide." Nov. 19 is World Toilet Day.

They estimate that 2.5 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation facilities, from clean water to running toilets. They hope to reduce this number in half by 2015 (Millennium Development Goal).

There are no plans developed for action in California, but you can click here to organize your own event on World Toilet Day.

Mental illness and epigenetics

Marcus Bockman / Daily 49er

Steve Lopez speaking at the Karl Anatol Center at CSULB March 3, 2010.

In light of Steven Lopez, author of "The Soloist" and columnist for the Los Angeles Times (photo at right), visiting Cal State Long Beach to discuss what it was like to help a mentally ill, homeless man with extraordinary talents as a musician, I decided to look at current news on the mentally ill.

In the weekly journal Science, on March 4 the article "Mental illness multiplied in children," a new discovery in genetics came to mind--epigenetics. Epigenetics examines "the study of heritable changes in gene function that occur without a change in the DNA sequence." Epigenetics allows for the passing on of characteristics that may not have been in the original been expressing a certain way. 

This is because different genes respond to our physiology. For example, a study  done in part with the documentary "The Ghost in Your Genes," examined pregnant mothers living in New York City who witnessed the falling of the World Trade Centers. Stress hormones affect the functioning of a gene and issues like post-traumatic stress disorder while exhibit low levels of cortisone, which is the chemical that deals with stress in humans.

These women's children, were born and continued to exhibit low levels of cortisone, and at around 9 years old, these children are showing discreet characteristics in dealing with stress in comparison to their peers. This brings me back to the article on mental illnesses being hyperbolized in children when the parent suffers from a mental illness. The article states:

"The team analyzed the records of all psychiatric admissions in the country between 1970 and 2007 and found 196 pairs of parents in which both had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Of the 270 offspring, 27% had been admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia by the age of 52. And for all psychiatric diagnoses, hospitalization for this group was a whopping 67.5%. In contrast, among 8000 couples in which one spouse had schizophrenia, only 7% of the offspring were schizophrenic."

These numbers are significant and can help family management programs, and also understand homelessness and how it can be induced from mental illnesses. 

And did you know that the city of Long Beach has a plan to end homelessness in a 10-year-plan? Check it out here.

Malaria activism in the U.S. for Africa

After watching the film "When the Night Comes" (trailer above) at the Long Beach Art Theatre on Thursday, it came as a surprise to me as to how bad the malaria epidemic had been in the United States (see the video below).

The World Health Organization had planned to end malaria worldwide in the early 1900s, however, due to insufficient funding from some of the top nations -- because most had already rid malaria in their regions -- the plan was halted. Well now, with the help of President Barack Obama's initiative to end malaria by 2015, malaria is getting the media attention it deserves. Killing 1 million people a year, malaria-related deaths outnumber the death tolls of any world war and any disease to hit this planet. It is also one of oldest parasites, and is said to have evolved with humans and our primate ancestors. Some research suggest malaria-infected mosquitos have been around for more than 50,000 years.

April 25 has been declared Malaria Awareness Day and thousands of people all of the world will be camping outside with their mosquito nets, which will be donated to those in need in Africa, as it is the No. 1 way to prevent transmission. Click here to find out about how to participate in the campout on April 25.