The trend in Brazil mirrors the (1)_________ toll AIDS is taking on women worldwide. In 2000, women made(2) ________ 47 percent of the world's 34.7 million adults living with the AIDS virus, compared with 41 percent in 1997, according to a United Nations report. U.N. specialists(3) __________ the number of women with AIDS will equal or (4)__________ men by next year.This has (5)_________ a deadly problem for women in Brazil, a country (6)____________ worldwide for its aggressive government program to develop(7) _________ versions of AIDS drugs and(8) __________ at no cost the AIDS "cocktail" used to treat patients. Several state and municipal governments have (9)_________ AIDS awareness classes in schools and hand (10)_________ free condoms.
But health officials(11) __________ that it has been a major challenge to change the cultural norms in a society well known for sensuality and male chauvinism.(12) _________ this year, newly married men had the right to divorce their wives (13)________ they discovered they were not virgins. For decades, Brazilian men who murdered their unfaithful wives routinely used a "defense of honor" argument to win reduced or (14)__________ sentences. The Supreme Court (15)_________ that practice in 1991."One of our biggest(16) _________ in AIDS prevention is machismo," said Paulo Roberto Teixeira, secretary of Brazil's AIDS program. "We need to(17) _________ women, especially those living in poverty who have even less ability to(18) _________ sex with their partners. But we also need to educate wives of all classes, who often don't see themselves with any risk factor. The(19) ___________ will go hand in hand with feminism and women's(20) __________. It is the only way."The government is trying to address cultural pressures by sponsoring AIDS education classes taught in(21) ___________ offices and community centers by women living with AIDS. But changing Brazilian sexual habits is no(22) __________ business.
During one class offered to phone company managers in Porto Alegre, a city of 2 million in Brazil's deep south, women listened (23)_________ while men tended to take it more lightly. (24)________ instructor Maria Beatriz Pacheco, who (25)__________ AIDS from her ex-husband, spoke(26) __________ about the need for safe sex(27) __________ among married couples, one swaggering manager in a suit and tie joked, "Come on, they haven't invented the condom big enough for a Brazilian man." "We have so far to go," Pacheco said. "(28)__________ if a wife knows her husband is (29)__________, it is more likely he will accuse her of(30) ___________ for just suggesting he use a condom. We are trying to change that, but it will (31)__________ a long time."
In the more conservative countryside, many patients are (32)_________ only after their cases have become advanced (33)__________ to warrant hospitalisation. In Londrina, an (34)___________ city of 500,000 about 300 miles southwest of Sao Paulo, women now make up about 40 percent of the 1,200 known AIDS cases, compared to(36)___________ than 10 percent in the early 1990s. But there are many, many more who (37)___________ being tested, and may die quickly(37) ___________ a result.
"People know me in town now, and when I get on a(38) __________ bus, everyone(39) __________ away from me and I sit alone," said Gomes, who (40)__________ a support group for women with AIDS. "Other women see that response, and their fear of getting tested (41)__________ even greater. I just hope it also makes them press their husbands to use condoms." Married women who do (42)_________ up to the disease find themselves(43) __________ with a jumble of (44)_________. Some grow to (45)__________ their husbands. Others (46)________ for forgiveness. Catarina de Madeira, 49, a graying Sao Paulo nurse, for instance, discovered that her (47)__________ husband had (48)__________ her in 1997. She moved to Londrina, away from their friends and family, to (49)__________ for her husband(50) __________ he died last March.
"I feel a lot of emotions, but not(51) __________ and hate," she said. "I loved my husband until the end. I don't blame him; we are all human. But I suppose I made the choice to forgive largely(52) __________ I don't want to spend the rest of my life giving in to bitterness and(53) ___________. Life is too short."
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