The controversy stems from a fundamental disagreement over almost every issue regarding AIDS transmission, prevalence, and prevention. While the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other international agencies insist that AIDS is a growing global epidemic that must be treated with massive condom distribution, sex education, and drug treatments, several high-profile scientists call the picture a "distortion". They say that AIDS statistics are overblown, and argue that the best means of prevention is abstinence and marital fidelity.

Dr. James Chin was the former head of a World Health Organization Global Programme on Aids unit from 1987-1992 and is currently a public health professor at UC Berkeley. He noted in a recent interview that in reality, the AIDS "pandemic" is not as widespread as it is often portrayed, and not even in large parts of Africa, where rates of infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) vary widely.

"In South Africa, close to 20 percent of the adult population is infected with HIV, whereas in Ghana, it is only 2 to 3 percent of the population, and in Senegal, less than one percent is infected," Chin told Cybercast News Service.

In a separate interview with LifeSiteNews, Chin stated that the differences between these nations and countries like South Africa and Zimbabwe, where the rate of HIV infection is as high as 20 percent of the adult population, is at least in part due to behavioral differences, including sexual behavior. "In general, there are lower prevalence of sexual risk behaviors and HIV facilitating factors in West African populations compared to Eastern and Southern African populations," he said.

Chin added that the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), has refused to acknowledge its own studies showing that the epidemic has stabilized or is in decline.

"Up to 2006, UNAIDS maintained its position that the pandemic was "ever-increasing and ever expanding", noted Chin. "However in its May 2006 report to the UN, UNAIDS acknowledged that - 'Overall globally, the HIV incidence rate (the annual number of new HIV infections as a proportion of previously uninfected persons) is believed to have peaked in the late 1990s and to have stabilized subsequently, notwithstanding increasing incidence in a number of countries.'"

Chin also quoted the report's admission that "changes in behavior" are at the root of the success. "In several countries, favourable trends in incidence are related to changes in behaviour and prevention programs. Changes in incidence along with rising AIDS mortality have caused global HIV prevalence (the proportion of people living with HIV) to level off," the report states.

"Since this report to the UN, I haven't seen much reference to the "peaking" of global HIV incidence by the late 1990s - almost a decade ago - you should ask UNAIDS why they have not mentioned this more since then!" Chin told LifeSite.

Part II will by published tomorrow.