Sunday Times, South Africa - April 30, 2000
Hobbs Gama
The council's secretary-general, the Rev Augustine Musopole, on Friday accused the government of encouraging promiscuity by distributing hundreds of thousands of condoms every month and called on non-governmental organisations to unite against the initiative.
He said scientific research had proved condoms were not 100% effective against HIV and the only guaranteed defence was sexual abstinence or strict monogamy.
"Anything else is a waste of time and simply spreads immoral behaviour," he said. "God created us in his own image, not as sex addicts who flirt with death for the sake of sexual release."
Conceding that the council's abstinence campaign had proved neither popular nor effective, Musopole said a new, more effective approach to the problem was outlined in the council's booklet The God of Love and Compassion ---- Christian Meditation on AIDS . It preaches evangelical sex education and calls for the compassionate treatment of HIV and AIDS sufferers.
About 200 000 Malawians are believed to have died of AIDS-related causes over the past 10 years, while 12% of the population is believed to be HIV-positive.
Malawi's Health Ministry greeted the council's criticism with disappointment. The Deputy Minister of Health, Philip Bwanali, warned that the council could disrupt one of Africa's most effective condomdistribution programmes.
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