Mr Oscar Motsumi, one of Botswana's most influential thinkers, recently shared some of the strategies which contributed to a halving of the prevalence rate of HIV and AIDS in his country.

According to Mr Motsumi, who is the HIV/AIDS programme co-ordinator for the Debswana Diamond and Valuing Company in Botswana's Gabarone, the prevalence rate among the Botswanian population of 1.5 million people dropped from 38 per cent in 2000 to the current 17 per cent.

Incidentally, Botswana's population now stands at approximately 1.7 million.

Had the Government of Botswana not taken some drastic steps, this devastating disease would probably have made good on its threat to wipe out the population.

Thankfully, Botswana is on its way out of woods, so to speak.
Unfortunately, we can't say the same for Jamaica - and other countries in the Caribbean, which has the second highest rate of prevalence where this disease is concerned - despite statistics which reveal a slight slowing down of the disease in sections of this region.

However, as Mr Motsumi pointed out to western Jamaica's hospitality sector last week, there is a lot that we can do to prevent this nation from falling into the trap that Botswana found itself in years ago. But it must start with the country's leadership - from the prime minister and his team to the individuals in the various private sector industries who wield influence in the society. These people who are privileged, because of the very public nature of their jobs to influence the thinking of this nation's impressionable young, must, as a matter of compulsion, be mindful of their behaviour and conduct themselves with a certain level of decorum.

For notwithstanding the age of most, people should know by now that we are talking about the recent spate of video recordings depicting popular entertainment figures in intimate situations.

Let us be clear here. We are not commenting on the tapes themselves. Nothing, in our view, is wrong with the expression of love through the sex act between consenting adults. Nothing is wrong with recording it either. However, in an age where technology has rendered the misappropriation of such recordings - especially when they are done by an instrument as common as a cell phone - so easy, we are forced to wonder if their release to the public at large is by accident or design.

And if, as we suspect, the release of these tapes are by design, what on earth could the objective be?

Surely it couldn't be an attempt to promote safe sex to the young and vulnerable who are looking on.

No, once such tapes hit the public domain, we feel constrained to conclude that those who play starring roles in them are really not worthy of the positions they occupy.

There is a porn industry which can always find space to accommodate aspiring stars, and this should not be confused with the rest of the entertainment industry which has a moral responsibility to ensure that it does not point our young people in the wrong direction.

For if we ever hope to win the war against the vulgarity that is overwhelming our young people, then Corporate Jamaica must make conscious decisions in terms of where it places its resources.

It makes no sense to be calling out for better values and attitudes through one side of our mouths while endorsing those who think it is vogue to push their genitals in our faces through the other.

That pornography is a thriving and profitable industry is undeniable.

That it is inseparable from the rest of the media doesn't follow.

The fear factor

Feeding the multitude

DANGEROUS PETS