AIDS

Exciting title, huh? I'm going to make an argument that isn't very well formed, so take it as an idea, not an official opinion. This is just something that struck me just now.

Global health policymakers have few or no qualms about attempting to change other culture's social norms to conform with the health standards of a Western liberal democracy. Things like eliminating the stigma of AIDS, increasing gender parity, making condom use a topic of discussion, making medication acceptable (even if the person taking it would rather pray to Allah, for instance, and not take the medication) are all easily justified by their obvious positive health impact. I'm not saying these are bad or good justifications, merely that they exist. They exist to the point that there's not really much of a discussion about whether or not the WHO and American academics should be meddling in other country's social norms, but merely how to do it most effectively. Again, no value judgment, I just noticed that.

I feel like the best place to affect HIV in terms of social norms would be in terms of the number of sex partners. There is all this money and time and brilliant minds focused on finding a vaccine, promoting condom use, teaching people about how HIV is spread, etc. But I have yet to hear anyone promote the idea of fidelity as a solution to the problem. If everyone in a society had only one sex partner, their spouse, in their life, there would be NO problem with AIDS. The current cases would be addressed and HIV would disappear.

Granted, this is an idealized scenario, but it is the only 100% way to guarantee not to get AIDS. Condoms break (and only work 99% of the time - I've come into contact with one of those 1% cases). All the other prevention mechanisms are unsure as well. And it's not as though we couldn't continue doing other work. But why are we so unwilling to impose this cultural value on other countries?

Because we haven't got it. Having only 1 sexual partner is becoming less and less common in Western liberal democracies. And of course it's not us that needs to change, it's other countries that need to change to become more like us. We're not willing to impose cultural changes on ourselves, and we're not willing to impose cultural changes on others if it doesn't directly mimic our own culture (even though it is just as justified by health benefits as are all the other impositions of different cultural norms, like the examples above).

Basically, that's the idea: although the most effective way to combat AIDS would be to encourage fidelity and celibacy until marriage, it is not promoted because America no longer adheres to that value.