Beauty Pageant to Choose Miss HIV

[karyn]

from yahoo

By Peter Apps

GABORONE (Reuters) - There is a catwalk banquet, hordes of journalists, traditional dancing and time-consuming hair styling -- but at Botswana's beauty pageant every competitor must be HIV positive.

At a palm tree-studded resort and conference center in the capital Gaborone, 12 girls are competing this weekend for the title "Miss HIV Stigma Free."

"We are saying here we are, we are HIV positive and it doesn't mean it's the end of the line," 33 year old reigning Miss HIV Kgalalelo Ntsepe told Reuters in her cluttered one room cottage, where she displays trophies of her win in 2003.

Largest global diamond producer Botswana has one of the highest HIV rates in the world with an estimated third of the population infected.

The government is using its mineral wealth to provide life prolonging anti-retroviral drugs -- but many do not know their HIV status or are unwilling to come forward for treatment. Organizers say the pageant aims to tackle that stigma.

"After I started the medicine, I became stronger and stronger," said Ntsepe, who was diagnosed in 2001.

"We are trying to say there is life with this medication. Some don't believe I'm HIV positive because I'm so healthy," she said.

AIDS groups welcome the pageant, which is sponsored by British bank Barclays. "It may just be a pageant, but it is important because it brings together people with HIV who are open about their status," said Brad Ryder, spokesman for the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Programme.

"They need support, they need to come out and get acceptance for their condition."

[Tequila Zaire]

I know you all are thinking about the same joke I am right now...and shame on you all! shame! shame! shame!

[killerkat]

I know you all are thinking about the same joke I am right now...and shame on you all! shame! shame! shame!

haha, i think i'm goin' to hell for that one,.........hahahahahaha

[Ellis]

Hmmm... I wonder if anyone got AIDS specifically for the purpose of entering the competition?

[OliX]

damn... it's not a thing to joke about /my opinion/

...but I like idea MISS HIV
sounds like superhero name...

[Mirren]

I read about this last week. I thought it was a good idea. It shows that even if you have Hiv it isn't necessarily a death sentence. You can still be healthy and beautiful, you just need to be with a good attitude. A woman with Hiv also did Playboy a few years back, she didn't know she had Hiv at the time of her photo shoot. It puts a more real face to this situation, too many people still think its a homosexual disease.

[Tequila Zaire]

I think the only thing people fear is that people will get TOO comfortable with HIV and AIDS and not see it as a big deal. Their is a danger in being too unguarded about it...look what happened to Africa in the late 90's...the worlds attitude about it fell far short of where it should have been.

[karyn]

i would hate to think anyone would try to become positive to be in a pageant but it seemed like a nice thing that someone was doing the pageant