AIDS Messages

What do Sushma Swaraj and George W Bush have in common? A mutual contempt of condoms, for one. The us president is known to prefer spreading the word about abstinence over safe sex. Sushma Swaraj too favours this mode.

The bbc World Service Trust, in partnership with Doordarshan and the National aids Control Organisation (bbc-dd-naco), had developed a series of television advertisements focusing on aids prevention in India. These ads had an eventless run for more than seven months, till they came under the scrutiny of the then Information and Broadcasting minister, Sushma Swaraj, in December. The minister, urged by the Joint Action Women's Front, pointed out that the spots concentrated on promoting condoms, without addressing other forms of transmission. She argued that such