THE political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli was famously quoted as saying, to facilitate the masses, they require ‘Bread and Circus’, and this has been repeated since.

But that was the 15th Century, though it has some relevance to our times. It is only a chip in the requirements of our global social and economic realities facing nations and peoples of the 21st Century. We have got to learn that types of phenomena and health threats that can be termed ‘pandemic’ even when termed under control, protective measures cannot be wished away.

The fact that there are now reported some 430 new cases of HIV-AIDS in Guyana is a catastrophic amount for a small nation as ours. I’ve touched on the following in this column before: “We seem to think that infections go out of style when something new is threatening us.” The Common Cold is still with us; so is Tuberculosis and Cancer, along with all the threats from Nicotine, Alcohol, Marijuana, Cocaine, over-the-counter pills, inactivity and too many gluten-based foods.

None of us can swear to have a completely healthy lifestyle, but moderation is a peak that we can reach. Thus, there must be moderation in our physical-sexual engagements. With the latter, there’s an addictive element called ‘chemistry between two people’, a mysterious element that keep them coming together after the first encounter, despite the most dire of warnings. As a young man, I was tutored in this, which is also called, in the context of STDs, ‘Fatal Attraction’. And the fact that in this area, the burden of a perceived terminal infection can also morph a carrier into a cold impersonal predator of ‘Death’.

The latter I have met. In the mid-90s, I had created a graphic novel on HIV/ADS, and presented it to UNICEF, and they agreed to publish it. The book was named, “Fading Footsteps: Arnold’s Journey: A graphic tale of AIDS”. It was published in 1998 by UNICEF to be distributed free by the Ministry of Education, which, it seems, the Ministry never did. Because some four years later, a friend, David Yaw, on a business visit to the Ministry, took a wrong turn, entered a room, and the books were piled up there. He picked up a couple, remembered my mentioning it, and brought two for me. In preparing the book, I did some interviews with persons that I was directed to illegally by a friend in the field.

One young lady had a habit of picking up men through the Astor Cinema for a rendezvous at a then ‘short-time’ hotel on North Road, close to Wellington Street. I started a conversation with her, and her response was, “I get this from a man who knew that he was sick; I gon’ give it to as much men that I could.” This kind of situation, at the time a certain death sentence, could have tripped a person off onto a persona of sober insanity. There was a male version of this young lady; same philosophy, called the ‘Ice Man’, whom I contacted, but he wouldn’t allow an interview.
Today, it’s much more frightening. I don’t believe that sex workers coming from over the border are subject to strict STD tests. It’s too many of them from too many locations, and I know of no policy to intercept them locally. I would hope that there’s a procedure to vet local sex workers. In this crucial domino effect, a lot of people are in danger.

For example, who visits the drug yards? Across townships, villages or hinterland areas to verify health treats? So, it boils down mainly to personal discipline on social habits, but does the old-school semi-promiscuous or current generation, or the semi-literate remember the details about any STD prevention culture from a decade ago? With the pervading prevalence of mind-altering drugs, can the individual summon, aided by memory alone, the warnings of a decade ago on the precepts concerning STDs in his conduct in 2022/23, living day-to-day, wrestling with life, and holding to stubborn deceptive self-assurances.

The individual requires a constant reminder, at his/her level of communication and observation that echoes the same agenda repackaged to suit the current terrain. Believe it or not, some people think that Syphilis is a thing of the past. There is confusion between the constant of nature and human ‘tech’ and its futuristic advertising. There’s no question about what the impact of the ‘COVID’ experience [survivor] would have on that survivor, much less a life-changing diagnosis of an HIV status person.

The bottom line is a continuous programme is necessary, and should be composed of smart marketing to help save the dependents, mainly from the forgetfulness of those that will inflict crucial change not only to their immediate economics but to their quality of life.