The Catholic Church wants the Department of Health to stop promoting the use of condoms to prevent the spread of the AIDS-causing HIV virus. Pangasinan Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, chair of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ Commission on Family and Life, said promoting the use of condoms would be “dangerous and ineffective.”
He was reacting to a statement by Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde, who said last week condom use was one of the most effective ways of preventing the spread of AIDS and HIV.
Also, two senators—Edgardo Angara and Pia Cayetano—have called on the government to strengthen laws on AIDS prevention and control, including more seriously educating the public on how to avoid it by using protection, such as condoms.
But Aniceto relayed the view of the Church in a statement yesterday: “We are constrained to express grave concerns over the press statement attributed to Undersecretary of Health Mario Villaverde that the Department of Health will now promote the nationwide use of condoms, allegedly as a means to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.”
Not good enough
Condom use will not effectively protect one from contracting the virus, the prelate said, adding that a prophylactic is not 100 percent foolproof.
“It is the duty of the DOH never to propose for general public use any prophylactic that could increase the incidence of the disease it is supposed to prevent,” the archbishop said.
“It is, therefore, irresponsible, imprudent and dangerous for the department to declare that the use of the condom, without any change in unhealthy sexual behavior, will prevent seropositive cases from transmitting HIV/AIDS to their seronegative spouses,” he said.
The prelate said Villaverde’s statement coincided with the recent population report of the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and the intense debates on the pending reproductive health bill in the House of Representatives.
“We are inclined to view this as an underhanded way of subverting our strong moral and constitutional objection to the proposed legislation, and confronting the nation with a fait accompli bereft of any moral or constitutional basis,” Aniceto said.
The prelate said the most effective way to prevent the spread of the virus is to have a change in sexual behavior.
The idea of “safe sex,” he said, lulls men and women into complacency, thinking that if they use a condom, it would protect them from the disease.
Lead morally upright lives
“We must encourage men and women to live morally upright lives, and to practice marital fidelity and chastity within and outside marriage, instead of telling them that risky sexual behavior is acceptable, provided they wear a condom to protect them and their “partners” from HIV/AIDS,’ he said.
The DOH said the country was still in the low prevalence group but the designation was not a cause for comfort. Last year, the health department said an average of 29 new cases were reported each month, an increase from the 20 cases in the previous years.
From 1984 to 2007, the number of registered cases stood at 3,061, with 2,754 persons still alive.
But the actual figure could be higher, said the DOH and the World Health Organization. In 2007, the two agencies estimated that there could be 7,490 people living with HIV in the Philippines, up from the 6,000 estimate in 2002.
Cayetano, chair of the Senate committee on health and demography, said the government must seriously embark on a campaign for safe sex to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases instead of just promoting natural family planning methods, as the Catholic Church insists.
Cayetano pointed out that there are innocent children infected with AIDS.
“Around 35 percent of our HIV cases have been traced to returning OFWs. The infected OFW unknowingly infects his wife, who in turn infects her baby once she gets pregnant,” she said.
Wake-up call
Cayetano said the increase in the number of AIDS cases should serve as a wake-up call for the government to seriously embark on a campaign for safe sex.
Worldwide, the Vatican is under fire from health advocates for sticking to its hardline stance against artificial contraception, including condoms, in the face of the tragedy of AIDS.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: Inquirer.net)