InterPress News Service (IPS) - Wednesday, June 17, 1998
Judith Achieng'

According to Dr Sobbie Mulindi, head of the National AIDS Committee, Catholics form the majority of the 800,000 Kenyans infected with HIV, which causes the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

"...Although the church is anti-contraceptives, there is need for it to acknowledge the dangers of engaging in unprotected sex," he says. Mulindi's statement comes barely a few months after Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a' Nzeki, the Catholic head in Kenya, led followers in a condom burning exercise to demonstrate the church's stance against contraception.

The Catholic Church advocates natural birth control methods for married couples and abstinence from sex for youths.

Kenya's Islamic leaders also share the Catholic Church's views on the use of the condom and have described campaigns promoting the condom as a ruse by developed countries to dump their goods in the country.

"There is no point educating youths on condoms. This is mechandise produced in the West solely aimed at capitalising on sex," says Al Amin Kimathi, a member of the Muslim Consultative Council.

Khamis Ramathan, another Muslim, says condoms are not a solution to the AIDS problem. "The most important thing is to exercise discipline," he says. The Catholic Archbishop in his first response to Dr Mulindi's claim says that the remark by the head of the National AIDS Committee is "malicious" and is aimed at maligning the church for its stance.

"Of course it can't be true that Catholics are leading in AIDS cases. They should not use us as an excuse for the spread of the disease, just because we are against condoms," he says.

Archbishop Mwana a'Nzeki adds that Kenya's Catholic bishops launched the first campaign against the spread of HIV in the East African nation long before non-governmental organisations and the government.

"It is true that Kenya is leading in AIDS cases in East Africa, but we were the first people to point it out even when the government was still too shy to talk about it," he says.

Kenya with more than 800,000 cases is currently ranked third among countries leading in HIV infections worldwide, after the United States of America and Brazil, both reporting over one million cases each.

Officials say Uganda and Thailand are the only developing countries which have reported success in reducing the spread of HIV due to a multi-sectoral approach involving education, awareness, and increased condom use.

Archbishop Mwana a'Nzeki attributes Uganda's success not to increased use of the condom, but to intense education and awareness. "Ugandans have accepted the reality and are open about it," he says. "If a fire is burning, do you refuse to say a fire is burning?"

Mulindi's statement also has been challenged by his professional colleagues and AIDS organisations who say he should produce the scientific evidence to back his claim.

"For me, this is not a true statement," says Alan Ragi, head of the Nairobi-based Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO). According to Ragi, there has never been any study conducted to document the incidence of the HIV virus along religious lines.

"I don't believe any religious sect is more exposed to AIDS than the other," Ragi adds. But he points out that this does not mean that people in the church are safe.

According to the KANCO head, 97 percent of Kenya's religious leaders are aware of HIV and how it spreads, but only 39 percent are involved in AIDS control. Based on a KANCO study, nearly half of the youths, between the ages of 12 and 14 in churches, representing six ethnic groups, were found to be sexually active. (end/ips/ja/pm/98)

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