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· Swaziland
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Jump to full article: Daily Mail and Guardian (za), 2004-03-30
Author: James Hall * Mbabane, Swaziland 30 March 2004 08:51
Intro: It may be a dim silver lining to a particularly dark cloud, but one apparent result of the Aids pandemic in Swaziland is that fewer people in the country are smoking.
"When people learn they are HIV-positive, they are counselled to live a healthy lifestyle to prolong their lives. The shock that they may die prematurely of Aids is just the type of trauma that gets people to stop smoking," says John Kunene, principal secretary at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
Although the Council on Smoking, Alcohol and Drugs (Cosad) has no statistics on the reported decline in smoking, it says there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to buttress the claim. . . .
Even the newsrooms of Swaziland's two daily papers have changed their ways: traditionally havens for prolific cigarette smokers, the offices no longer feature journalists working in a haze of smoke. . . .
"Aids is no longer an immediate death sentence if they follow a healthy lifestyle. What they must do is some moderate exercise, take vitamins, lower or cut out alcohol consumption -- and no smoking," he adds.
"I used to smoke, but I lost a taste for it when I got sick," says an HIV-positive contractor from Matsapha, an industrial centre near Manzini.
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