AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Thu, 3 Jan 2002

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Thu, 3 Jan 2002
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* Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., 'Condemns' Catholics for a Free
  Choice Ad Campaign Criticizing Bishops' Stance on Condom Use
* New York Times Editorial Urges Wealthy Nations to Spend Money on
  Improving Health Worldwide


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Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., 'Condemns' Catholics for a Free 
Choice Ad Campaign Criticizing Bishops' Stance on Condom Use

The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., has "condemned as 'false and 
misleading'" an international ad campaign criticizing Catholic bish-
ops' stance on condom use and has issued an "advocacy alert" urging 
parishioners to contact public transportation officials and politi-
cians in regard to the ads, the Washington Post reports (Broadway, 
Washington Post, 1/3). The ad campaign, sponsored by Catholics for a 
Free Choice, was launched in Washington in late November and features 
billboards and ads in subway cars and bus shelters with the slogan 
"Banning Condoms Kills." The campaign, which "accus[es]" Catholic 
bishops of aiding the spread of HIV by banning condoms, will also be 
launched in other U.S. cities and in countries around the world with 
either large Catholic populations or high rates of HIV/AIDS infection 
(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/2). The ad campaign contains "false 
information," archdiocese spokesperson Susan Gibbs said, adding that 
the ads "accuse bishops of killing people when in fact the bishops 
advocate the only lifestyle to protect against HIV/AIDS: a lifestyle 
of abstinence outside a monogamous marriage." She added that while 
Catholic bishops oppose condom use, they "do not have the authority 
to 'ban' condoms." The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Author-
ity, which runs the city's public transportation system, has received 
"about 25 e-mails or phone calls from people objecting to these ads," 
Metro spokesperson Ray Feldmann said. Though the archdiocese argues 
that Metro should have refused to carry the ads because they "contain 
false information," Feldman said that after reviewing the ads, Metro 
officials found "nothing obscene, pornographic, lewd or offensive" to 
prevent them from running the campaign. Metro officials control only 
advertisements on buses and trains and in Metrorail stations. The 
U.S. Department of Transportation, which controls the advertising in 
Washington, D.C.-area bus shelters, will not approve any advertising 
that is "blatantly untruthful or false," Alex Eckmann, office of mass 
transit administrator, said, but he added that the ads submitted by 
Catholics for a Free Choice "fell within the department's guidelines" 
(Washington Post, 1/3).


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New York Times Editorial Urges Wealthy Nations to Spend Money on Im-
proving Health Worldwide

"It is hard to imagine anything less wasteful than the health spend-
ing recommended" in a recent report by the World Health Organization 
that called for wealthy nations to donate an additional $38 billion 
per year to global health spending by 2015, a New York Times edito-
rial states (New York Times, 1/3). The WHO report, which was released 
last month, stated that eight million lives could be saved and $186 
billion in world income now lost to illness could be recovered each 
year if the world's nations donated a total $101 billion annually for 
medical research and treatments for infectious diseases like HIV, ma-
laria and tuberculosis. The report estimated that $66 billion in new 
money is needed each year to improve international health; $38 bil-
lion of this total should come from industrialized countries, while 
$28 billion could be donated by developing nations (Kaiser Daily 
HIV/AIDS Report, 12/21/01). The New York Times editorial stresses the 
importance of health on economic stability, noting that diseases such 
as HIV result in higher infant mortality, decreased tourism and in-
vestment and shorter lifespans for workers. According to the WHO re-
port, developing nations that receive more money to spend on health 
care would see economic gains of "at least $360 billion a year," a 
figure that makes a "compelling argument" for increased health spend-
ing by wealthy and poorer countries, the editorial says. But U.S. re-
sponse to the report's recommendations has been "skeptical," and "one 
of the biggest obstacles to reaching the study's goals is changing 
the American view of foreign aid," the editorial states. The edito-
rial says that donating money to improve health in developing nations 
would have economic payoffs for the United States and other wealthy 
countries because a "stable third world would experience fewer con-
flicts and disasters, and would eventually spend more money buying 
American exports." But the editorial concludes that "[t]he chance to 
save lives and reduce poverty should be incentive enough" (New York 
Times, 1/3).

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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. © 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser 
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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