Pope Benedict previously stressed the Catholic Church was in the forefront of the battle against AIDS. The Vatican encourages sexual abstinence as their answer to fight the spread of the disease. So the Catholic Church has a simple answer; if you are not married or you happen to be gay, or you do not 100 percent trust your husband or wife, don't have sex (are choirboys excluded one wonders?). Very easy for him to say! Well, in Africa, where the pope is currently on a recruiting drive, they seem to be losing the battle. Globally, there are an estimated 33 million (30 million - 36 million) people living with HIV. In 2003 a senior Vatican official claimed condoms had tiny holes in them through which HIV could pass, exposing thousands of people to risk.
The then head of the Vatican Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, said: "The AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the *net' that is formed by the condom."
He added, "These margins of uncertainty ... should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger."
The World Health Organization responded at the time by saying that "These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million."
Anyone who condemns the use of condoms, or who supports any religious- or idealist-based opinion stated in this column, should also consider another statement made by UNAIDS in their 2008 report was that: "some of the most worrisome increases in new infections are now occurring in populous countries in other regions, one of them being Indonesia.
"The serious epidemic under way in Indonesia's Papua province is somewhat anomalous in Asia, in that HIV transmission appears to be occurring mainly due to both unprotected sex with a regular partner and paid sex.
In a province-wide population-based survey in 2006, adult HIV prevalence was 2.4 percent (2.9 percent among men and 1.9 percent among women).
"Given that only 14 percent of men who buy sex say that they use condoms with sex workers (Ministry of Health *Indonesia* and Statistics Indonesia, 2007), it is not surprising that high HIV infection levels *14 percent-16 percent* have been found among sex workers in parts of the province (National AIDS Commission *Indonesia*, 2006)".
Spread the work and not HIV. Be safe! Use a condom.
The then head of the Vatican Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, said: "The AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the *net' that is formed by the condom."
He added, "These margins of uncertainty ... should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger."
The World Health Organization responded at the time by saying that "These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million."
Anyone who condemns the use of condoms, or who supports any religious- or idealist-based opinion stated in this column, should also consider another statement made by UNAIDS in their 2008 report was that: "some of the most worrisome increases in new infections are now occurring in populous countries in other regions, one of them being Indonesia.
"The serious epidemic under way in Indonesia's Papua province is somewhat anomalous in Asia, in that HIV transmission appears to be occurring mainly due to both unprotected sex with a regular partner and paid sex.
In a province-wide population-based survey in 2006, adult HIV prevalence was 2.4 percent (2.9 percent among men and 1.9 percent among women).
"Given that only 14 percent of men who buy sex say that they use condoms with sex workers (Ministry of Health *Indonesia* and Statistics Indonesia, 2007), it is not surprising that high HIV infection levels *14 percent-16 percent* have been found among sex workers in parts of the province (National AIDS Commission *Indonesia*, 2006)".
Spread the work and not HIV. Be safe! Use a condom.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/03/27/spread-work-and-not-hiv.html
