Pope Benedict - poor ethics lead to HIV and AIDS
Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 08:38 AM
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| Pope Benedict XVI |
It was a bold stance to adopt in a continent that accounts for around 70 percent of the world's HIV cases. But for Benedict, AIDS is not so much a health problem as an ethical one.
'Above all, (AIDS) is an ethical problem,' he said, raising eyebrows in a continent devastated by the HIV virus. 'The change of behavior that it requires – for example, sexual abstinence, rejection of sexual promiscuity, fidelity within marriage – ultimately involves the question of integral development, which demands a global approach and a global response from the Church…'
The pope's central point is that the ethical challenges AIDS poses to his Church teachings are ultimately more important than, you know, actually helping to prevent people from becoming infected in the first place.
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It's the general lack of ethics, Benedict implies, that results in the continuation of this deadly disease. In other words a lack of ethics leads to deadly diseases.
But you know, if that were really true, then most of the world's major religions, and indeed its political and financial systems, would have been wiped out centuries ago - wouldn't they?
In May 2005 Pope Benedict made his first public pronouncement on Aids, insisting that condoms never be used to fight it. At the time he was addressing the bishops of South Africa, where somebody dies of Aids every two minutes.
You have to admire his chutzpah. It's the kind of flying-in-the-face-of-reality pronouncement that social conservatives used to make back in the early 1980's, before they were shamed into adopting a more compassionate stance. So Pope Benedict takes us back 30 years in his theological time machine. Condoms are part of the problem, not part of the solution, he is still saying, although settled medicine contradicts him.
To be clear, condoms can not immunize someone against HIV infection, but they do effectively stop the virus from being transmitted during sex.
But with two million people dying every year from a preventable disease, Benedict's irresponsibility to look reality square in the face even once, rather than retreat behind life-denying theological hairsplitting, makes him part of the problem, not the solution.
33 Comments
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SingleDonald | Nov 24, 2011, 09:01 PM EST
T will repeat, in general terms, what was apparently deleted. Reports, which were carefully researched, should not be revised, because certain groups may be offended!
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hollabackgurl | Nov 24, 2011, 06:45 PM EST
Beware of social conservatives quoting unattributed studies. No such figures exist except in your easily led mind, Geroid4.
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Gearoid4 | Nov 24, 2011, 04:26 PM EST
The condoms only approach that Western agencies promulgate have failed to make any serious indent on the horrific statistics concerning the spread of sub-Saharan Africa over the last couple of decades. No less than an authority, Dr Edward Green, a respected global authority on AIDS and former head of the Harvard University program dealing with this condition, has backed up the pope's words. He stated "if somebody is using a certain technology to reduce risk, a phenomenon actually occurs where people are willing to take on greater risk". African countries which have recorded the greatest progress against this epidemic have used the ABC approach with a lesser emphasis on condoms as a solution. The acronym stands for Abstinence,Be Faith and then Condoms. Uganda which adopted his approach since the early 90's experienced as a consequence a dramatic fall in numbers effected from a a very high 18% to 4% of the population by 2004. Those who persist in throwing condoms at the problem without referring to any programs which emphasize abstinence and faithfulness to one's wife/partner will continue to fail to appreciate the widespread, immoral behavior which continues to exacerbate this problem. Condoms can work in individual situations but do not on their own form a creditable solution to this health crisis.
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eiriamach | Nov 24, 2011, 01:51 PM EST
And, Toronthab, the Green and Hearst studies have not been suppressed but are well known and still debated. Just put their names and publication titles in any search engine: you can find hundreds of studies that cite these two doctors. You need to face the fact that the medical establishment is not going to abandon condoms, which they know are highly effective, in favor of the abstinence-only approaches that Green preferred and that the Christian right keeps pushing in his name. Ain't gonna happen.
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eiriamach | Nov 24, 2011, 01:46 PM EST
No, Toronthab, I did not portray Green and Hearst as "fans of condoms." I pointed out that nothing they have researched or written indicates that condoms are any less than 90% effective in reducing the spread of the virus. That is settled science. The rumors that Christian health workers spread in Africa about the virus creeping through microscopic holes in condom latex are ridiculous! And such rumors lead to neglect of condoms, and in turn not using condoms during sex spreads the virus. Green and Hearst pointed out an important fact: health workers must take local culture into account when they work to reduce the number of AIDS cases. Having multiple sex partners is a common cultural practice, and among Africans who have multiple partners, neglect of condoms or incorrect use of condoms, as well as exposure to other sources of infection besides sex, happens most often. That-- not any ineffectiveness of condoms-- is a problem that health workers in Africa need to deal with. Green and Hearst were right about that but wrong about downplaying condoms in favor of abstinence.
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Toronthab | Nov 24, 2011, 01:06 PM EST
Funny how Hearst and Green who led the Harvard study and who came out plainly agreeing with the pope are now portrayed as being big fans of condoms. The naive belief as evidenced repeatedly in the homosexually attracted community, that these men who have sex with men and who in the US comprise over 60% of AIDs sufferers while less than 2% of the population, is really just a desperate ploy to maintain a heartless and inhuman indifference to others if an orgasm is involved. Are we to believe that he worldwide news stories were because Hearst and Green's honest work supported condoms? Ridiculous.
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Toronthab | Nov 24, 2011, 12:55 PM EST
Far from misconstruing the Hearst UNAids study Hearst, the study was suppressed due to its results which showed that condom reliance was perpetuating and causing death on a massive scale. Hearst is on record clearly on this matter.
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eiriamach | Nov 24, 2011, 11:31 AM EST
Why would the Ugandan government not want condoms readily available to the population? Homosexual relationships are illegal in Uganda, and condom use save lives of same-sex partners. It's worrisome that Christian organizations oppose medical interventions such as condom distribution and education in African countries-- with one exception: they favor medical treatment to prevent the spread of HIV from an infected mother to the developing fetus. Without treatment, both parents will die of AIDS, but with treatment their child might survive. That looks to me like a form of genocide. In the name of Christian "ethics"?
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eiriamach | Nov 24, 2011, 11:15 AM EST
Dr. Green (Harvard study) argued for culture change to reduce HIV spread in Africa. His focus was Uganda, where the government claimed to reduce HIV infections through a program that emphasized abstinence or having only one sexual partner, with condoms for those who did not follow A or B (Abstain or Be faithful). In The Lancet journal 9 May 09 Green and Hearst wrote, "evidence from generalised epidemics points to partner reduction as the primary behavioural factor explaining declines in HIV prevalence.... Increased condom availability or use has not shown a similar pattern...." Conservative religious organizations immediately seized on their conclusions because they foolishly push abstinence as an *alternative* to condoms: "Could condom promotion exacerbate epidemics? The phenomenon of risk compensation ... could account for higher infection rates,... 'gains in condom use seem to have been offset by increases in the number of sex partners.'" They conclude, "The root of the problem is that people do not use condoms consistently, no matter how they are promoted. A little bit of condom use might be like a little bit of antibiotic use— not ultimately helpful." We need no expensive study to tell us that: common sense dictates that a "little bit of condom use" is not effective, but consistent, correct condom use is 90% effective. Even abstinence is not 100% effective because, again, there are other routes to infection besides sex.
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eiriamach | Nov 24, 2011, 10:27 AM EST
Toronthab is simply wrong that "reliance on condoms was furthering the AIDS epidemic." No study has shown this. UN studies have shown that OTHER factors besides unprotected sex contribute to new infections among high-risk populations. This fact does NOT mean that condoms do not prevent new infections. The 2007 update published by the UN programme on HIV/ AIDS, UNICEF, and World Health Organization again emphasized "access to services and commodities including condoms" (p 35), along with behavioral changes to reduce the number of new infections among young people. NO reputable health care organization has called for an end to distribution of condoms or education in how to use them. EVERY competent medical practitioner knows that condoms are essential to slowing the spread of this still-deadly virus. For Toronthab or the pope to suggest condoms make no difference is unconscionable. They prevent new infections 90% of the time! Anyone who turned down a 90%-effective drug against a deadly disease because he or she might engage in high-risk behaviors that would lead to infection by other routes would be downright crazy. Education is also necessary-- the images on the condom package that the government official described as "pronogarphic" were likely drawings for those who cannot read to illustrate how to use condoms properly! But hey, there's no cure for stupidity, and people who try to convince others that condoms do not prevent HIV infection are either stupid or inclined toward genocide. I prefer to think they are the former, but who knows....
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Toronthab | Nov 24, 2011, 09:46 AM EST
I most certainly did NOT misrepresent the Hearst UNAIDS study that was actually SUPPRESSED because it showed that reliance on condoms was furthering the AIDS epidemic, and Hearst was interviewed SUPPORTING the church's common sense view that human sexuality is about more than plastics.
The initial report, titled: Condoms for Aids prevention in the developing world: A review of the scientific literature, concluded that although condoms were about 80 per cent to 90 per cent effective as a public health strategy in halting the spread of Aids in some concentrated epidemics (epidemics affecting men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and commercial sex workers) in places like Thailand and Cambodia, condoms were seen as ineffective in preventing the spread of HIV/Aids in generalised epidemics like those taking place in Eastern and Southern Africa.I suggest that YOU are clearly misrepresenting the test and you failed to mention Green's Harvard study on AIDS transmission that ALSO blamed condom emphasis for the continuing epidemic. Also... read the stats on people who actually use condoms properly and constantly. Lots of lives hang in the balance here.
“These findings surprised us and were not what UNAids wanted to hear at all,” recalls Dr. Hearst who says that his report provoked serious debate within UNAids.
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eiriamach | Nov 23, 2011, 09:18 AM EST
Toronthab misrepresents the 2004 UNAIDS study. The abstract is on line: "Condom Promotion for AIDS Prevention in the Developing World: Is It Working?" by Norman Hearst and Sanny Chen. This study alerted health workers to the problem of long-term multiple sex partners, which helps spread HIV even among condom users. The authors conclude, however, that condoms are highly effective in preventing HIV infection among people who use them regularly and correctly and do not have long-term multiple sex partners who expose them to other sources of infection, such as intravenous drugs. Hearst and Chen write, "Condoms are about 90 percent effective for preventing HIV transmission.... Recommendations include increased condom promotion for groups at high risk, ... and more research on how best to integrate condom promotion with other prevention strategies." Other studies have found low levels of condom use among married couples in Africa in cultures that view condoms negatively. In Malawi, for instance, one government official commented, "The fight can never be fought with a condom, which has 'prono garphic' pictures on its covers. Take it from me such a weapon defeats the honour, rather than the enemy ("Condom and sexual abstinence talk in the Malawi National Assembly," Adamson Muula, 06). Toronthab is helping the pope to spread misinformation that kills by the millions each year.
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Alistair | Nov 23, 2011, 05:24 AM EST
I am highly amused that the Head of the Catholic Church, a man personally mired in the biggest global cover-up of child rape by his religious acolytes, deigns to lecture us on ethics!
Motes and beams, Ratzi........
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