AFRO-NETS> Big Brother Africa - are contestants practicing safe sex?

[John Kiwanuka Ssemakula <jssemakula@medilinks.org>]

Big Brother Africa - are contestants practicing safe sex?
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I haven?t been following Big Brother Africa much since I have never 
been a fan of any of its other incarnations in any country or any 
other so called reality show for that matter. Give me real life any 
day. But it recently came to my attention after being informed by my 
brother of how popular it is in Uganda and if stories in the news me-
dia are true throughout the rest of Africa as well.
 
Now the latest round of gossip and hint of scandal is the possibility 
that Ugandan contestant Gaetano had sex with Abby from South Africa. 
So far so normal as far as other Big Brother and other reality shows 
go. But wait, this is Africa a continent hard hit by AIDS epidemic, 
and the two contestants come from two countries that have been or 
amongst the hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.
 
So I ask, during this alleged sex act, did the two love birds prac-
tice safe sex? Come to that were they tested prior to coming on the 
show? Did they discuss their past sexual history? And what message 
does this send to all the watching masses?
 
I am not one of those killjoys saying that such shows should be 
banned, far from it. Such light hearted trivia is just what the doc-
tor ordered to get African?s minds off the daily rigors of life. But 
it seems there is a missed opportunity here to use the powerful me-
dium of television to send universal messages about safe sex and so 
on. Perhaps the shows creators will take this into account for the 
next show they produce.
 
Dr John Kiwanuka Ssemakula (MD, MPH)
CEO Medilinks
Tel: +1-917-292-5968
mailto:jssemakula@medilinks.org
http://medilinks.org
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