HIV in Mongolia
“‘Mongolian Minister of Health L. Gundalai on HIV/AIDS in Mongolia,’ an Interview by Luke Distelhorst, http://mongolia.neweurasia.net”
You know Mongolians are so sexually liberal. They sleep with each other like animals. There are no rules or customs in Mongolia. Mongolia is one of the most liberal countries in the world. We are an Asian country, but we are not like other Asian countries in terms of sexual liberties. Therefore this one indication that AIDS can spread quickly in Mongolia. Second is the poverty; 60-70% of Mongolians are poor. They cannot afford condoms; they have a lack of money. When they have some money they will use it for food, or vodka or cigarettes. Now they hear they have to use this money for condoms instead of vodka or some other nonsense. Therefore, my duty as Minister of Health was to inform the people about HIV/AIDS. I started a campaign, “Mongolians must learn to use condoms like they ride horses!” Also during the socialist times there was a slogan from Lenin, “Learning, learning and learning.” Now I have changed it to, “Condom, condom and condom.”
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Also I am planning to pass a law in Parliament that every bottle of vodka and every pack of cigarettes must have a condom with it. This will help us reach everywhere. Just like TV, there are cigarettes and vodka every where in Mongolia. We want to put condoms in all of these places as well.
However, he doesn’t mention who will pay for all those condoms that will come with vodka and cigarettes. Will those items become more expensive? Interestingly, he quickly discounts any type of education that isn’t done by TV.
My problem is not for those who have contracted HIV/AIDS. They have been infected and we can’t do anything. So my goal is to first inform the people about these dangers and make them use condoms.
Yikes.
There have been 20 “official” cases of HIV/AIDs in Mongolia. Five of these cases have appeared since April 2006. Of course, these are “official” cases. Some estimates put the real number of cases around 1,000.
