my secret love for stats revealed

here i go again.  insisting that you read a book that i loved.  and this time, it is called Wisdom of Whores.  don't let the title put you off, nor the fact that Elizabeth Pisani is an epidemiologist who wrote a book about statistics and preventing the spread of disease.  it really is fascinating and part of that is due to Pisani's ability to call it like it is, humbly take credit for good work, but also to admit when she (and the development world, in many cases) was wrong.

the book talks about how our hiv prevention strategies as donor governments, un agencies, and ngos has typically been ass backwards.  instead of putting money toward the greatest transmitters of the disease, commercial sex workers and injecting drug users (especially those in prison), the enormous amounts of money that have been donated/lent by the american government, the canadian government, unaids, and the bill and melinda gates foundation, among so many others, has largely gone to useless programmes targetting women, children, and the general public, who are not the hotspots of transmission.

hiv is not really that infectious, if you look at the science.  we know how it is most easily transmitted (and it is not heterosexual sex) and who is transmitting it (with minor variations between countries and cultures), but we continue to spend money on saving the poor women and children.  oh, the women and children.  the poor, poor women and children.  who don't spread hiv nearly as often as others...

another fun fact that book came out with is that timor leste (where a good friend of mine lives and works, no doubt spending money given by the americans) had a grand total of 7 people who tested positive for hiv at the time of their independence (they were the first new state to be formed in this century), but the americans threw money at the country to deal with their 'hiv problem.'  7 people does not a problem make.  but oh my god, the poor women and children, what will they do if we do not address the impending epidemic hanging above their heads!

we have been force fed the idea that poverty will equal hiv transmission rates going through the roof and Pisani shatters that nonsense as well, demonstrating that being poor does not necessarily make you any more likely of contracting the virus, but it is how we fail to address the most common ways it is passed from one person to another (man to man, man to woman, woman to child, woman to woman...) in our programming that is failing millions of people.

for example (and there are many), the us will not allow any of its money to be spent on needle exchanges for drug users, the us claims to be a saviour of those living with aids by providing drugs (shipped from the states when other generics are avilable and do not need to refrigerated) but won't fund any programmes that keep sex workers safe rather than forcing them to leave the trade.

we continue to try and fit people into boxes of 'female sex worker,' 'positive man married to uninfected woman,' and 'sex buyer,' to name a few.  but in reality, people do not fit into these, or other, boxes very nicely and Pisani makes a great case for the changing of research and reporting to better reflect this, which could result in better prevention programmes that might actually work.

there are many problems as to why hiv has taken off in some regions of the world.  african governments refuse to acknowledge that there are men who have sex with men in their countries (ahem... kenya, nigeria, uganda) and their politicans speak out against proven science that hiv leads to aids and that you can cure aids with thorough washing and herbal supplements (yes, south africa and the gambia, i am looking at you...).  so while we are pouring money down the drain, and there is certainly a lot of money in the aids business thanks to bono, pepfar, and do gooders like myself, in providing education and voluntary testing to wives, mothers, and children, we have lost the plot on what really needs to be done.

and did you know that canada is among the worst offenders for tying our aid? it means that when we give money to other countries or organisations, we have an expectation that a certain percentage of it is spent on canadian goods, canadian services, and canadians themselves in the form of hiring our nationals.  i knew we were no aid angels, but i was surprised to see that we were behind only the us, the international pariah of untying aid activists.

i take no credit for these ideas.  i have thought them in varying shades of clarity and articulation, but Pisani really deserves credit for writing a book about statistics and science that is fascinating, infuriating, and inspiring in equal measure.  go out and read it (and her blog, now listed here), you will certainly be smarter for it.  or you can go out and buy a red ipod or a cup of starbucks red coffee...

a real must see

i watched the move War Dance last night and it was so incredible that i have to write about it and insist that you go out and find yourself a copy.

perhaps i out the one who is out of the loop here, because apparently it was nominated for an oscar. and so it should have been.

the movie is timely too, as there is great hope that the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony, in uganda will sign a peace agreement with the government of uganda in southern sudan today.

but back to the movie. it is fantastic. i cried. but the good kind of tears. the happy kind. the real kind because the people in the movie, Nancy, Dominic, and Rose are still kids kicking around northern uganda, living with the circumstances of being children of a warzone, but also finding joy and healing in music, dance, and theatre. sounds trite, but the movie is not.

it is just so good.

it is also a peek into life in africa and life in a displacement camp. celtel advertisements, jerry cans, matatus as the form of transport. a lot of this has just become so normal to me, but i think it is a good glimpse into real life in africa and not just the wars and exportable tourist stuff. it is not negative, it just is.

just one unit for me today, thanks

i am afraid that i have a cavity. this could become a very troublesome issue when you consider my incredible fear of the dentist. i have an irrational, sometimes incomprehensible, fear of the dentist. which doesn't make much sense because my dentist is one of the nicest people i have ever met. he leaves his own practice every year to treat children in africa and he only keeps his patients in canada so that he can follow his passion and bring his services to other parts of the world. and for that, i don't mind paying for two units of scaling, though i have no idea what a unit even consists of.

none of this, however, makes me any less afraid of the noises, the tools, mean dental hygienists, and the smells involved with stepping foot in a dentist's office. i simply cannot imagine looking into other people's mouths and poking around for a living. i always try and give my teeth a good brush before i go in for my cleanings out of courtesy for the poor souls who have to don the surgical mask and rubber gloves and scrape junk off my enamel.

right now it is a dull ache and could possibly be caused by sinus pressure or an inflamed jaw due to stress. both of these things have happened before and both have made have similar panic attacks about the possibility of a cavity. so here's to hoping that is what is going on this time.

one of the things i have learned in my years is the importance of flossing. i do love the feeling of clean teeth!