No simple solutions

The epidemic of Aids among heterosexuals of which we were once warned by public health officials is now almost as forgotten as the global freezing of which the environmentalists in the 1970s also warned us. Only in Africa has Aids spread through the general population, reducing the already low life expectancies of several countries still further.

The African exception has long puzzled doctors. Why should Africa be the exception? Various theories have been put forward, from general malnutrition to the prevalence of other sexually transmitted diseases that facilitate the entry of the virus into the body and the polio immunisation experiments conducted in the 1950s in the Congo.

According to the author of this book, the main explanation lies elsewhere, in the pattern of African sexual relations. Contrary to received myths, the Africans are not particularly promiscuous, having no more sexual partners during their lifetime than people on other continents; but they do often maintain several long-term sexual relationships at the same time.