AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Mon, 13 Aug 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Mon, 13 Aug 2001
-----------------------------------------------

* AIDS Challenges Catholic Church's Opposition to Condoms, Washington
  Post Reports
* Zambia Rejects Plans to Build AIDS Clinic Due to Disease-Related
  Stigma


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AIDS Challenges Catholic Church's Opposition to Condoms, Washington 
Post Reports

Although many organized religions have responded to the HIV/AIDS cri-
sis by providing care and support for the sick and their families, 
their stance against condoms has hampered prevention efforts around 
the world, the Washington Post reports. Most "significant" is the Ro-
man Catholic Church's ban on all forms of contraceptives, including 
the use of condoms for HIV prevention. The church's official position 
on contraception was set forth in July 1968 in Pope Paul VI's Humanae 
Vitae, which stated that "[e]very action" that would "interfere" with 
conception was not permissible "even for the gravest reasons ... even 
when the intention is to safeguard or promote individual, family or 
social well-being." The Church leadership has stuck to that line de-
spite attempts by some theologians to allow for condom use to prevent 
HIV transmission through the doctrine of "lesser evil," saying that 
it would be acceptable for a married person who contracted HIV by be-
ing unfaithful to use a condom to protect their spouse from the dis-
ease. 

Public Opposition

Last month, the South African Bishops Conference debated endorsing 
condoms for HIV prevention in light of the region's HIV/AIDS epi-
demic, but ultimately decided against allowing the contraception, 
calling "widespread and indiscriminate promotion of condoms ... an 
immoral and misguided weapon in our battle against HIV/AIDS" because 
they "undermin[e] abstinence and marital fidelity." This adherence to 
strict church doctrine "contributes to the widespread stigma and dis-
crimination against people with AIDS," according to many activists. 

Hampering Prevention Efforts

The Catholic Church has been a "crucial player" in the global re-
sponse to HIV/AIDS, providing "more direct care" to people with 
HIV/AIDS and their families than any other institution, the Post re-
ports. The Vatican has led the fight for an increase in international 
spending on the disease, but it has also been the "loudest and most 
consistent voice" raised in opposition to condom use, sometimes pub-
licly questioning the efficacy of condoms in stopping HIV transmis-
sion. International organizations that have tried to work with the 
church to change its stance, realizing that church doctrine is 
unlikely to change, have asked the church not to condemn condom use 
publicly. "What we've asked of the churches, particularly the Catho-
lic Church, is that if you can't say something nice about condoms, 
don't say anything at all. Concentrate on (abstinence and fidelity) 
... Don't give misinformation" that condoms do not work, Paul Delay, 
head of USAID's AIDS programs, said. 

Working Together

Despite many religious organizations' public disapproval of condoms, 
others are working to promote condom awareness and HIV prevention. 
The Islamic Medical Association of Uganda supported a "model" preven-
tion campaign last year, while a coalition of Muslim and Christian 
leaders in Senegal have worked together on a government campaign that 
promotes abstinence, fidelity and condoms, which have "dramatically" 
slowed the spread of HIV. Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of the An-
glican Church has been "instrumental" in asking religious leaders to 
promote HIV prevention efforts, and the World Council of Churches, a 
group that represents 342 Christian churches, has been an "outspoken 
supporter" of HIV prevention efforts. "AIDS is ... not a divine 
curse. It is a disease and there is no cure, but you must not run 
away from people with AIDS," Imam Ousmane Gueye of Senegal said. Many 
clerics in the Catholic Church also privately support condom initia-
tives and do not condemn parishioners who use them. Peter Piot, ex-
ecutive director of UNAIDS, noted that while visiting a group of nuns 
in the Ivory Coast, the mother superior showed him materials on con-
dom usage. "I said, 'My goodness, Mother, you're promoting condoms.' 
She told me: 'When I show this, I speak as a woman and not as a 
nun.'" One priest acknowledged that as long as a priest or nun "does 
not deviate from doctrine in public statements," he or she runs lit-
tle chance of getting into trouble with Church authorities (DeYoung, 
Washington Post, 8/13).


--
Zambia Rejects Plans to Build AIDS Clinic Due to Disease-Related 
Stigma

Zambian health officials at a meeting convened to plan the national 
AIDS strategy on Thursday rejected the country's National HIV/AIDS 
Council proposal to create a specialized AIDS clinic, Reuters Health 
reports. Although an estimated 200 Zambians die from AIDS-related 
illnesses every day in Zambia, the disease carries a "terrible social 
stigma." Dr. Elwyn Chomba, executive director of the University 
Teaching Hospital, Zambia's biggest referral hospital, said at the 
meeting, "Specialists in this field are definitely needed, but we are 
against having a specialized clinic that will only deal with 
HIV/AIDS. Already we have a big problem in making people accept that 
they have HIV. What will make them agree to go to this special hospi-
tal?" But National HIV/AIDS Council Chair Emmanuel Kasonde said, "The 
government needs to work with us and declare this matter a disaster 
because we are losing close to 200 people a day, it is worse than 
war." Zambian officials have not yet permitted the purchase of anti-
retroviral drugs at hospitals due to their high cost and the limited 
ability of the state sector to distribute and monitor the complicated 
drug regimens (Reuters Health, 8/10).

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The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, 
a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National 
Journal Group Inc. c 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser 
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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