"The coming tsunami"

Back in 2008, Dr Nyoman Karmaya, Chairman of the Committee for Combating AIDS (KPAD), spoke of "the coming tsunami of HIV/AIDS sufferers threatening to drown and overwhelm (Bali)."

"Putu Cantik" posted this link on our FB page recently. The numbers just got grimmer.

There are 7,317 confirmed HIV/AIDS cases in Bali. This is twice the number from three years ago, a rate of increase far worse than the previous estimate of 30% every two years.

The report identifies the usual high-risk groups: sex workers, needle users, wives and children of men who visit brothels, and prisoners (?). Missing from the count, again, are the beach boys, underscoring the difficulty health officials in Bali and similar destinations face in monitoring an acknowledged high-risk group.

Certainly, the Cowboys should not be forced to undergo mandatory check-ups. (To the government's credit, they're not.) And as one commenter pointed out to me, totally out of context, of course: "They know how to use condoms."

Sure they do! But as the film reveals, like adults everywhere, they sometimes choose not to. Worse, it's often because that's what their partners want. Partners who also know how and why to use condoms, by the way.