Writer Valentin Rasputin descends to Baikal bed
The Russian writer Valentin Rasputin today took part in the descent made by the Mir mini-submarines to the Baikal lakebed.
According to the Foundation for Lake Baikal Conservation’s press service, Rasputin submerged accompanied by the Russian Academy of Sciences’s Oceanology Institute Anatoly Sagalevich and Baikal Natural Resources Management Institute Director Arnold Tukholonov.
After completing the descent, the writer shared his impressions: “I thought I knew Baikal well. It turned out not to be so, especially in regards to its sub water life. There is amazing life there at the depth, that has not yet been fully studied or defined but most abundant. There is order there, special beauty, calm, friendliness and, most importantly, total absence of aggression. Yes, primitive organisms live there but in some respect they are higher than us!” quotes the author Gazeta.ru.
According to the Foundation for Lake Baikal Conservation’s press service, Rasputin submerged accompanied by the Russian Academy of Sciences’s Oceanology Institute Anatoly Sagalevich and Baikal Natural Resources Management Institute Director Arnold Tukholonov.
After completing the descent, the writer shared his impressions: “I thought I knew Baikal well. It turned out not to be so, especially in regards to its sub water life. There is amazing life there at the depth, that has not yet been fully studied or defined but most abundant. There is order there, special beauty, calm, friendliness and, most importantly, total absence of aggression. Yes, primitive organisms live there but in some respect they are higher than us!” quotes the author Gazeta.ru.
Women leaders seek wider availability of female condoms
New York, Aug 6 (PTI) Women leaders from around the world have appealed to governments and international donor agencies to provide greater access to female condoms to check the spread of HIV/AIDS.
"It is distressing that women make up half of those infected by HIV and policy makers are refusing to provide them with the tools they need to negotiate safer sex," Serra Sippel, Executive Director of the Centre for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), international secretariat for Prevention Now! said yesterday.
Other women leaders attending the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico city echoed her views.
With rates of HIV/AIDS infection among women climbing to more than 60 per cent in some regions, it is more important than ever that governments and international donor agencies invest in female condoms as an HIV/AIDS prevention method, they said.
"African women, including female sex workers, need the knowledge and tools necessary to empower them to take prevention into their own hands," said Bernice Heloo, President of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa International.
She called upon the US government to increase support for purchasing and distribution of female condoms.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has taken lead in making female condom available through its Global Female Condom Initiative with aid of country-driven female condom strategy.
But in 2007, fewer than 26 million female condoms were distributed worldwide - just one for every 100 women in Asia, Latin America and Africa between the ages of 15 and 49.
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