South African World Cup: An HIV Missed Opportunity?

This Sunday marks the end of a great World Cup as Spain takes on the Netherlands in a match sure to go down in history. Personally, I can say that I am not sorry to see the World Cup end so that all those annoying Facebook status updates of “USA (insert your favorite country here) – Gooooooooooal!!!!!” will be kaput. On the flip side of the celebrations that have been taking place and the massive celebrations sure to take place this Sunday are those physicians and researchers who feared having the World Cup in South Africa (a country that sits on the top of the list of having the highest rates of HIV/AIDS) would only help to exacerbate the epidemic. After all, drunken celebrations spurred on by winning/losing sports events (especially when most attendees of the World Cup have traveled from abroad and are away from spouses and partners) is the perfect catalyst for casual sex encounters.

You may have heard of the tale of two traveling shoe salesmen who visited a third world country. When they arrived to this country, they immediately noticed that hardly anybody wore or even owned a pair of shoes. The first salesman called his company and said, “Book me a flight back home. Nobody here wears shoes.” The second salesman called his headquarters and exclaimed excitedly, “Send me the largest shipment of shoes you can. Nobody here wears shoes!!!!” When it was announced that South Africa would be the host country of the 2010 World Cup, that same type of situation occurred. Some public health advocates threw their hands up exasperated and said, “Great, now we will just see the levels of HIV/AIDS increase to astronomical proportions!!” Meanwhile, other public health advocates saw this a rare opportunity to educated the masses on AIDS/HIV and the use of contraceptives.

Dr. Sue Goldstein, who is the senior executive of South Africa Programs of Soul City: Institute for Health and Development Communication in Johannesburg, stated, “It was an ethical issue because we have such high HIV rates, many visitors may not know the risk they are at in having sex in South Africa. In South Africa, many people do not know their HIV status, so you can ask someone if they’re HIV positive and they’ll say ‘no,’ because they don’t know.” Dr. Charles van der Horst from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine explains that efforts to prevent the virus have been successful in the past, “In Malawi it reached 23 percent of the population affected.” By the end of 2007, however, that rate had dipped down to just under 12%. Van der Horst goes on to explain that is the younger generation that is most at risk for HIV; he states, “HIV will spread whenever you have a large gathering of people, including tourists, making use of prostitutes, getting drunk, and drug use — including large numbers of people having sexual activity. The least-prepared are going to be the young — all young people anywhere on the planet, they don’t see themselves as vulnerable.”

AIDS groups were enthusiastic about the World Cup being held in South Africa because many felt it would be the perfect opportunity to educate the masses on safe sex and to promote the consistent and correct use of condoms. However, many groups became upset when the World Cup organization did not allow the distribution of educational pamphlets and condoms at the soccer stadiums. Mark Heywood of SANAC stated, “There were big plans, and they haven’t come off. FIFA has not engaged SANAC on how the event can be used to assist with messaging and mobilizing around HIV, and consequently we’re faced with a dreadful missed opportunity.” FIFA eventually agree to allow condom distribution at soccer events.