Today's guest host was Stephanie Nolen.


Satire

It's Friday, November 9th.

A new study claims that - when you factor in all the hidden costs of being poor - Canada's poorest citizens actually pay a higher tax rate than the country's wealthiest citizens.

Currently, it's not just the rich that are getting richer ... the irony is, too.

This is the Current.

AIDS Vaccine

The Lifeline Malawi Medical Clinic in the town of Ngozsi handles everything the local residents can throw at it, from stomach viruses to crocodile bites. But
because it's in Malawi, where 1 in 6 adults is living with HIV, the clinic's staff spend a lot of time dealing with AIDS.

This despite more than 20 years of hunting for a vaccine.

In May of 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton boldly declared a national goal of developing an AIDS vaccine by the year 2007. If JFK could deliver on his promise to put a person on the moon, Clinton said, then surely we can do this.

Long before Clinton, Ronald Reagan made the promise too - he said in 1982 that his government would find a vaccine for the virus within two years.

Yet today, an AIDS vaccine continues to elude us, and the global pandemic goes on.

In September, the multi-billion dollar quest for a vaccine suffered a crushing setback when researchers called an end to what had been the most promising international human trial to date. They said there was no evidence it was working -- and in fact that it might actually be making matters worse. A few weeks later, a sister trial in South Africa was also cancelled.

The news has left the research community reeling, and talking about how to go on. Earlier this week, scientists met in Seattle to share information about what went wrong with the trials and how to move forward. Dr. Glenda Gray is the Chief Investigator of the South African trials. We reached her in Johannesburg.

Male Circumcision

The news isn't all bad in the fight against HIV/AIDS. While disappointed researchers are heading back to their labs, front-line healthcare workers are moving full-steam ahead with a prevention strategy that has proven results -- male circumcision.

Unlike a vaccine, circumcision is no silver bullet. But the results of three major African trials have shown that it can cut the rate of HIV infection in heterosexual men by 60 per cent. And the World Health Organization says that circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa could prevent 5.7 million new cases of HIV -- and 3 million deaths -- over the next 20 years.

In some African countries, this news has led to what has been dubbed 'circumcision fever'.

Take Swaziland. The tiny country has the world's highest rate of HIV infection and doctors can barely keep up with the demand from men who want to be circumcised.

Dudu Simelane is the Executive Director of the Family Life Association of Swaziland, a non-governmental organization that provides male circumcision. She was in Manzini.

Listen to The Current:Part 1

(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)

The Current: Part 2

Shimelba Documentary

Every refugee camp in the world has its own particular dynamic: a set of circumstances that make it different from the rest.

But there's a camp called Shimelba in northern Ethiopia that is truly unique. Shimelba is right near the border with Eritrea, and that puts it in the middle of what has been a war zone. And as tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea rise -- again -- the fear is that Shimelba could once more end up on the firing line.

The CBC's Stephen Puddicombe has just come back from a trip to Ethiopia and to Shimelba, and we spoke to him from London, England.

(Due to various rights issues, this segment is not available for internet use)

The Current: Part 3

How To Write About Africa

The all-too-common portrayal of Africa is as a place stricken by disaster, disease and despair. It's a cliched view that has long rankled Binyavanga Wainaina.

Two years ago, he touched a collective nerve -- and more than a few funnybones -- when he penned a satirical piece for the literary magazine Granta. It was called "How To Write About Africa."

Wainaina is one of Kenya's leading new literary voices and he's made a name for himself as a champion of other young writers, with their nuanced, homegrown storytelling that flies in the face of typical Western portraits of African life.
Binyavanga Wainaina is the founding editor of Kwani?, Kenya's first literary journal. And he is currently on a Lannan Foundation fellowship in Marfa, Texas.



Last Word - Freshlyground

Artist: Freshlyground
Cut: “Pot Belly ” (track 3)
CD: “Ma'cheri”
Label: Freshlyground Records


Listen to The Current:Part 3

(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)

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