Geckos Don't Cure Aids
Officials in the Philippines are fighting a growing trend of using geckos (small lizards) to treat aids.
In folkloric practice, geckos are dried and pulverized to use as aphrodisiacs and medicines to heal a variety of illnesses, including Aids.
Now the gecko trade is exploding, with 11-ounce geckos selling for more than $1,000.
Not unlike the Tanzanian tradition of hunting albino humans and harvesting blood and body parts for a black magic cure for Aids, the dangerous practice of trying to cure Aids with a lizard stems from lack of education and from desperation for a cure.
Gecko traders have a flush market as people living with HIV who lack access to care ans services and who face intense stigma and discrimination cling to any hope of a cure.
Sadly, as misinformation and miseducation spread so does HIV
