POS

Popular South African Parliament member Patricia de Lille has launched the country’s first woman-led political party, the Independent Democrats, with three HIVers in leadership roles and a platform demanding free HIV meds.

In an Australian prison study, a standard course of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) — four-weeks’ HAART started within 72 hours of exposure — helped block HIV in inmates. Whether this encourages the government to offer jailhouse PEP remains to be seen.

Cardinal McCarrick’s pastoral letter, titled “The Fullness of Life,” also urges Catholics to embrace HIVers and to pressure the U.S. government to guarantee affordable treatment worldwide.

NEG

The Tanzania Media Women’s Association reports high HIV risk for housemaids there: 60 percent of maids have had sex with male employers (who had made threats or promises), while 30 percent have been raped.

While being arrested for spousal abuse, Oklahoman John Marquez spat on his arresting officer and got slapped with a life sentence for “placing bodily fluid upon a government employee” — despite testing negative for HIV and any saliva-transmitted diseases.

Washington, DC, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick issued a pastoral letter declaring that efforts to promote safe sex “are not solutions, but myths” and advising Catholics that “condoms too often fail.”