World aids day, last Thursday, has once again come and gone, but how many of us have really noticed?

How many newspapers have even bothered to highlight the fact? We haven't even had the - until now - obligatory sensational statistics of so many million people dying per second worldwide, which seems (seemed) so dear to our journalists in previous years.

Most of the victims seem to be far away in Africa and beyond, nowhere near our cosseted shores. And, in any case, we have had remarkable breakthroughs in treatment, have we not? No cure yet, but surely one will be found soon? Little attention is given by the media to the very serious side-effects constantly emerging from this treatment.

Where were Malta's official activities to commemorate such an important day along with the rest of the world? A quick browse through the UNAIDS Website showed Malta to be very conspicuous by its absence.

All countries, from Afghanistan to Bahrain and Zambia, marked World AIDS Day. If it were not for the brave and very laudable efforts of our medical students, World AIDS Day would have again been completely ignored, as it has been for the last five years. These medical students have again put us to shame.

We have become complacent and indifferent. AIDS does not worry us any more. We have adopted different priorities. Yet we are signatories to all HIV/AIDS declarations drawn up by the European Commission and the World Health Organisation. Why do we bother? Do we have any good reason for this inertia?

Just a few weeks ago two fresh cases of HIV were notified locally: one patient is 17 years old, the other is 19. Can we all, hand on heart, say that we have done our level best to try and prevent these infections?

Is our school sex education programme, as laid out in the legally binding minimum curriculum, being implemented rigorously and uniformly in all schools, be they state, Church or independent? Or is it still subject to the personal whims of different head teachers who have varying levels of beliefs and tolerance?

We all have a collective responsibility. By "we" I mean all those responsible for young people's welfare; not only the health authorities, but also educators, the Church and, most importantly, parents.

Where are the sexual health promotion campaigns that we have so publicly bound ourselves to carry out in our Quality Service Charters? We spend good money (and rightly so) on trying to discourage the use of tobacco and unhealthy eating, but what about our own self-imposed commitment to sexual health? Are we suggesting that it is acceptable to be a lean, non-smoking HIV-positive person?

When are we going to have a serious workable national sexual health policy? When we do, is it going to have clear and unequivocal objectives and targets, or are we going to simply pay lip-service to it?

Do we really believe that by simply telling our youngsters to "abstain" absolves us of all responsibility? If so, we are totally divorced from reality. Let us make no mistake. We have a very serious problem waiting to happen.

We know from the Genito-urinary Clinic's annual reports that:

¤ some 50 per cent of young patients admit to casual sex and multiple partners;

¤ 75 per cent never use condoms while doing so;

¤ there has been a re-emergence of the, until recently, very rare disease syphilis; and

¤ the ever-increasing rate of teenage pregnancies is well-documented;

Unfortunately this pattern has been depressingly consistent for the last six years. Clearly, whatever we are doing is simply not enough and/or is not working. What are we waiting for? Do we need a major crisis such as an AIDS epidemic before we act? Do we really care?

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