WHO Warns Vatican on Condom Advice (3)
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Well, at the face of it, the issue of the Catholic Church stand
against Condon use looks worrying, considering that the global
fight against HIV/AIDS needs to be approached from almost every
conceivable angle. However, the position of the Vatican on Condom
also needs to be looked at a little more carefully, and, I think,
in the context of the widespread extremism associated with condom
promoters. I do not want to speak for the Catholic Church, but I
think the position of the Church on condoms is not entirely wrong
or misleading, as some people would want us to believe. The way I
understand it, all the Church is saying is that the condom is not
the ultimate solution to the global fight against HIV/AIDS � the
way some people want to take it to be.
Although the importance of a multidimensional approach to
HIV/AIDS prevention built on the ABC of Abstinence, Being Faith-
ful and using Condoms cannot be disputed, the fact is that there
are people who look at casual sex more as an aspect of a life-
style to be promoted, than as an element of procreation to be
cherished. Such people, under the guise of fighting HIV/AIDS have
subverted the order of the multidimensional approach to HIV/AIDS
prevention from the ABC (of Abstinence, Being Faithful and using
Condoms) to the CBA (using Condoms, Being Faithful, and Absti-
nence). This type of subversion won't help the fight against
HIV/AIDS, in my opinion, and I think this is the gist of the con-
cern of not only the Catholic Church, but also of many other re-
sponsible people.
The Church is therefore entirely right in its view that the con-
dom is not the primary means of preventing HIV/AIDS as promoted
by many, especially in the West and their surrogate NGOs in the
Third World. And it is not the Church alone holding this view.
Recently Uganda�s First Lady Janet Museveni, who has been instru-
mental in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Uganda, correctly warned
such people who are obsessed with condoms that the future of the
world with regard to HIV/AIDS cannot rely merely on a thin sheath
of rubber. The World Bank monitoring and evaluation specialist,
David Wilson, also told delegates during the recent International
Conference on AIDS in Africa that, contrary to what most thought,
his analysis revealed that condoms did not play the leading role
in reducing Uganda�s HIV infection rates. �We were a bit over-
optimistic and naive about the level to which universal condom
promotion would reduce HIV infection rates in Africa,� Wilson
correctly said. �We are now more pessimistic (about condoms) than
we were 10 years ago.� (See, Uganda�s The New Vision, Published
on: Monday, 6th October 2003). We can't agree more. Kenya, Malawi
and Zambia had condom rates similar to Uganda, but their HIV
prevalence had not declined like in Uganda. In fact, Uganda�s HIV
prevalence begun declining in 1992 before condom use became wide-
spread in mid 1990s.
We all know well the weaknesses of the condom approach, which,
unfortunately, many of its proponents do not want to talk about.
Misguided individuals and NGOs who are indiscriminately distrib-
uting Condoms, especially to schools, in the third world are
therefore not serving the cause of fighting HIV/AIDS these coun-
tries. We should be telling people to only consider using condoms
if they cannot abstain or be faithful to their sexual partners.
The future of the world with regard to HIV/AIDS lies more with
changing attitudes rather than hiding under a thin sheath of rub-
ber.
Kintu Francis
Makerere University
Kampala, Uganda
mailto:fkintu@hotmail.com
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