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Jewish World Review June 16, 2005 / 9 Sivan, 5765 Stemming AIDS in Africa simply By Kathryn Lopez
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Elton John is furious at Bob Geldof for inviting the Pope to one of the
upcoming Live 8 concerts, organized to raise money for sick and starving
Africans. What's the Rocket Man's problem with the pontiff attending the
party? Condoms.
Elton is peeved about the Vatican's longstanding position against
artificial birth control, including condoms, considering it a slap in
the face for those working to stem the spread of AIDS in Africa.
In his estimation, "Banning Condoms Kills," as the abortion-advocacy
group Catholics for a Free Choice stated in an ad campaign. And so the
Catholic Church, according to the chattering class, is a major
accomplice in the pandemic senselessly killing off African adults and
orphaning their children.
In a story published right after Pope John Paul II died earlier this
year, the British New Statesman proclaimed that he "did more to spread
AIDS in Africa than prostitution and the trucking industry combined."
F.Y.I., John Paul said: "fidelity within marriage and abstinence outside
are the only sure ways to limit the further spread of AIDS infection."
Excuse my simplemindedness, but that seems like exactly the pill Africa
needs. And you don't have to take the Vatican's word for it. Throwing
condoms at the problem has simply not worked in Africa. Fidelity and
abstinence, where it has been tried — most notably in Uganda — seems
to give people a fighting chance, as it logically would.
Edward Green, senior research scientist at the Harvard Center for
Population and Developmental Studies, is an expert on the "ABC" approach
to AIDS prevention: "Abstain; Be Faithful; Use Condoms."
Don't have sex if you're not married; be true to your spouse if you are
married; use a condom as a last resort as Green explains in his book
"Rethinking AIDS Prevention, Learning from Successes in the Developing
World" (Praeger, 2003). Uganda has embraced this approach and the
standout results present a model for attacking the African pandemic.
Between 1991 and 2001, HIV infection rates went from about 15 percent to
5 percent. In Kampala, the country's capital, HIV among pregnant women
dropped from 30 percent to 10 percent.
You mean education and behavior change might go further than Bill Gates
airlifting condoms into Africa? Teach a man to respect himself and the
women around him, and you might just be en route to putting a dent into
a pandemic. And you don't have to be pope to realize that.
Unfortunately, the ABC approach may not spread and flourish, even in
Uganda. Because of "conventional wisdom of the world," major donors to
Africa do not favor the A and the B of it. According to Green, "If you
look at the current national Strategic Framework for HIV/AIDS, which is
a blueprint for all the activities supported in Uganda to combat AIDS,
you will see that there are virtually no A or B elements there. The
document is all about condoms, STDs, future vaccines, future
microbicides and testing."
This approach reflects the attitudes the major donors like. In fact, the
word abstinence appears only twice in the body of this 77-page document,
but only as part of a general approach — there are no specific
objectives or impact measures associated with A or B interventions."
That remarkable turnaround in Uganda is reversing course due to Western
ways. But despite the successful evidence, some Westerners are wedded to
their tried-and-failing ways, putting that remarkable turnaround in
danger and holding the rest of Africa (among others) back.
Large donors and popular voices like Elton John seem to think you must
give the Third World inhabitants condoms because you can't keep them
from promiscuity. That insulting attitude does Africans a deadly
disservice. People deserve to know they have alternatives in life to
risky sex.
Hughes, once a buyer into the condom conventional wisdom, now believes
"that the ABC approach is good for women and girls." And it ain't too
shabby for men, either, obviously. Feminists — who are normally averse
to the "abstinence" word, associating it with (heaven forbid) George W.
Bush (who favors ABC) and the Catholic "patriarchy," ought to hold their
noses and give it some consideration. They could lead a revolution and
save a continent!
"If it turns out that the findings from Uganda and other countries are
confirmed, and we have failed to promote the right messages, then it is
not too far-fetched to say that millions of lives could have been saved
and yet were not," notes Green.
Is proving the pope wrong really worth taking that kind of chance? Even
the Rocket Man can see there's no bloody point in that.
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