March 17 marked the first time that Pope Benedict XVI had spoken out about condom use since assuming the papacy, and his comments could not have been more damaging to the fight against AIDS in Africa. It’s not surprising that Benedict would be against the use of condoms because sex is for the sole purpose of reproduction in the Catholic faith. But to suggest condom use somehow makes the AIDS crisis worse is completely absurd and spreads misinformation when more education on AIDS prevention is needed in Africa, where the disease killed 1.5 million in 2007 and has orphaned 11.6 million children.
Dr. Edward Green, the director of the AIDS Prevention Program at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies may be correct when he says some studies aren’t finding a direct correlation between condom distribution and the decline of AIDS cases. Regardless, the simple fact remains: someone who is using a condom during sex is less likely to acquire a sexually transmitted disease than someone who is having unprotected sex.
One of the biggest obstacles in combating AIDS in Africa is the amount of inaccuracies that exist concerning AIDS prevention. Less than 10 years ago, there was an outbreak of child rape cases in South Africa after rumors spread that having sex with a virgin would cure AIDS. When authority figures such as the pope are telling Africans that condom usage ‘increases the problem’ of AIDS, it only hinders the message of educators who want to inform the African public that using a condom can protect against contracting the HIV virus.
Fortunately, not all members of the Catholic Church are following creed over common sense. A handful of South African bishops, who see firsthand the terrible effects of AIDS in their country, have advocated the use of condoms in the case where one partner in a marriage has the HIV virus, and several South African nuns started the group Sisters for Justice to promote using condoms to prevent AIDS.
Abstinence, of course, is the best way to combat the spread of sexually transmitted disease. Realistically, however, preaching abstinence has been ineffective. A 2007 U.S. federal study found that abstinence-only education has no effect on whether teens have sex. If people are going to have sex regardless of what authority figures are telling them about the risk of pregnancy and STDs, it would be in their best interest to use a condom.
The Catholic Church has every right to hold the belief that condom use is immoral.’ But for the pope to tell the African population that using condoms increases the prevalence of AIDS sends the wrong message and has set the continent back a step in its fight against AIDS.
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