The Effectiveness of Violence

Both acts of violence and non-violence work to solve issues. Violence is sometimes necessary when confronting irrational people who use violence themselves - these are people who are ignorant and unaffected by reason. In this case, violence is needed to get their attention; but when the goal is peace keeping this is not effective. Violence may get people to do what you want, but this oppresses those who you wish to make peace with. How can one achieve peace if they use methods that aren't peaceful in any way, shape, or form? I believe that in order to achieve peace, a balance of mutual respect and understanding is most effective. No one can actively force someone to be peaceful - this just doesn't make sense to me. The key to true resolve is communication, words as opposed to weapons will set you free.

Racism Blog

Of course parents should be permitted to express their beliefs to their own children, however everything is subject to reasonable limits. Although, it is their child and they should be allowed to raise that child whichever they want - it is their responsibility to help the child form their own opinions. Even if a parent chooses to home school their child, the child's learning should follow some sort of government approved curriculum, this would help eliminate any sort of bias. The purpose of learning is to aid children in growing into their own person, how can this be done if someone else's beliefs are forced upon them? Therefor, the only solution is to provide a neutral teaching base point that can be built off of by individuals.

AIDS and Disease

There are three main approaches that are currently used to prevent HIV infection:

• Sexual health education. Education is often targeted at children under 14 years as they are least likely to be infected with HIV. It can protect by promoting healthy lifestyles and avoidance of risky behaviours. Continued education of the 15-24 age group who are at higher risk and account for an estimated 60% of all new HIV infections, can also reduce infection rates.

• Condoms use. Condoms reduce the risk of HIV infection by 85-90% when used properly. Condom use is proven to be a highly effective way of tackling HIV in many developing countries where the vast majority of HIV infections are sexually transmitted. But to be effective, condoms need to be accessible and affordable; their use is not always easy for women to negotiate and may not be culturally acceptable.

• Treatment to reduce HIV transmission. People with existing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are at greater risk of acquiring HIV and of transmitting the virus to others. Early detection and treatment of STIs has been shown to be effective in reducing HIV rates. Also, pregnant women with HIV are at risk of passing the infection on to their baby. Mother to child transmission can be greatly reduced by treating the mother with anti-HIV drugs, through safer delivery practices, infant-feeding counselling and support.

Many poor countries are ignorant to infection and have not been educated on the issue. Also, they do not have access to resources to help in AIDS prevention, therefore they have no way of protecting themselves during intercourse - this leads to further transmission of the disease.

Breakdown of HIV/AIDS figures, 2002

Region	Number living with HIV/AIDS	Number newly infected with HIV (2002)	Main mode(s) transmission1
Sub Saharan Africa	28.4M	3,500,000	Hetero
N Africa & Middle East	0.55M	83,000	Hetero, IDU
S and SE Asia	6M	700,000	Hetero, IDU
E Asia & Pacific	1.2M	270,000	IDU, Hetero, MSM
Latin America	1.5M	150,000	MSM, IDU, Hetero
Caribbean	0.44M	60,000	Hetero, MSM
E Europe & Central Asia	1.2M	250,000	IDU
W Europe	0.57M	30,000	MSM, IDU
N America	0.98M	45,000	MSM, IDU, Hetero
Australia & New Zealand	0.015M	500	MSM
Total	42M	5,000,000

1 Hetero, heterosexual sex; IDU intravenous drug user; MSM men having sex with men.

Source: UN/WHO regional estimates, December 2002

Bodies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) deliver a range of education, prevention and treatment initiatives, but the epidemic continues to grow.