InterPress News Service (IPS) - July 2, 1998
Judith Achieng'

The Church, which promotes abstinence for unmarried people and sticking to one partner for married couples, argues that the promotion of condoms leads to immorality.

This stance has, however, been scoffed at by lobby groups and condom producers. "We promote condoms, not for commercial purposes, but because the condom remains the only vaccine against HIV infection," says Catherine Taylor of the British condom manufacturing company, Durex.

"The Church is only acting in ignorance. It is time it changed its hard-line policies," says Janey Woodworth, from an Australian company.

Adding her voice to the debate, Christel Lindgren of the International AIDS society says: "We all need to step outside the religious dogma and try to do our best to fight the disease."

Gideon Byamugisha, an Anglican priest from Uganda, says that church leaders should recognise their influence on people and seek to give advice that will save lives.

"We exert a lot of influence on the people we lead in many areas of decision making, but sadly, many church leaders are not giving accurate information on what people can do to avoid being infected or passing the virus to others," says Byamugisha.

Byamugisha, a self-confessed person living with AIDS, says the church should accept the condom option for people who choose not to abstain, and for those who are vulnerable to infections from their partners.

"The reality is that the majority of people in the (Africa) region engage in premarital and extramarital sex," he says.

Byamugisha cites the case of Uganda where about two million people are infected with the virus. Studies show that 90 percent of the East African country's population of 20 million engage in active sex, while only 10 percent abstain.

"The church has responsibility over the 90 percent," he says.

According to the latest UNAIDS report, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 21 million out of the 30 million people already infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) worldwide. To reduce the infection, the Geneva-based UN agency has called for consensus among governments, pharmaceutical industries, non- governmental organisations (NGOs), and churches to fight the spread of the disease.

"There is no single magic bullet. Let's stop waiting for tough political choices..., " UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot says. "Whether it be sexual health education for young people, or needles for drug users, let us commit ourselves and each other that we will have the courage of our convictions to stand with the data and against the politics of division when the lives of our people hang in the balance."

According to Piot, recent dramatic changes in the AIDS profile from a killer to a chronic disease, thanks to an array of more than 36 new drugs which help to prolong the lives of people infected by the virus, have not affected Africa due to the prohibitive costs of the drugs.

A yearly dose of the cocktail drug ranges between 15,000 and 20,000 dollars, far beyond the reach of Africa's poor.

Byamugisha says a consensus within the Catholic Church on the use of the condom is possible if "we are dealing with church leaders who use their power in church to control the spread of HIV, but not those who use AIDS to maintain their grip on power to control the church."

Fr. Robert Vitillo, a Catholic priest, however, says that criticisms directed at the Church are made without looking at what the Church has contributed. "We have played a larger role in AIDS outside the condom debate. We have set up education programmes all over the developing world not only on health, but also spiritual care."

"The Catholic Church believes it has been mandated by God to reach out to people in solidarity through care and education," he adds.

Vitillo's comments however, were dismissed by some delegates as an unnecessary defense. "This is not the time for the Church to defend itself, it is time for change," says a delegate from Brazil.

Others say confrontation with the Church will not help the fight against AIDS. "Church leaders need understanding and support in order to grip the reality of AIDS, not unhelpful criticism," says a Nigerian delegate here.(END/IPS/JA/MN/PM/98)

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