Elementary principles

International | Although amoral United Nations programs receive most of the credit, Zambia is slowly reversing its AIDS epidemic by putting abstinence programs to work | Priya Abraham in Lusaka, Zambia

In Zambian high schools, students are learning their ABCs all over again. That's Abstinence, Being faithful to one partner, and Condom use.

Abstinence is becoming the preferred AIDS preventative, even as condoms remain the most touted. The retooling is part of an aggressive, multipronged approach to educating youths about the dangers of AIDS, a disease infecting 1.2 million Zambians.

With U.S. delegates gathering this month in Anaheim for the annual AIDS conference, attention again will focus largely on Africa, where 28 million people are living with AIDS and 20 million have already died. But in Zambia there may be good news. According to the latest United Nations global report on HIV/AIDS, Zambia could become the second country in Africa (after Uganda) to reverse its AIDS crisis.