TAC slams 'no condom' advice
'Cardinal Napier's comment has set back hard work of Aids education by years'January 26, 2005
Wendy Jasson da Costa
The Treatment Action Campaign has criticised the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference for saying the government should promote abstinence and not condoms in the fight against Aids because condoms were "clearly not working".
TAC spokesperson Denis Matwa said Cardinal Wilfrid Napier's comment had set back their hard work by years, especially in townships where people did not easily accept the use of condoms.
"It's a sorry situation to find a person of such influence preaching such a message," he said.
On Monday, Napier said only a drastic change in sexual behaviour would stop the spread of the disease.
"Why can't we follow the example of the one country in Africa, Uganda, that has successfully reduced its infection rate from something like 29% to 5% in just 10 years?" he asked.
Napier argued that in Uganda everyone from the president down had preached the same message: "Change your behaviour ... change your behaviour."
He said in that country condoms were never a consideration because the entire campaign was focused on abstinence, which the South African government had said was part of its campaign, together with condom distribution.
However, Matwa said he found it surprising that Napier used Uganda as an example, saying he was there in October and there were condoms everywhere - in libraries, schools and even churches. He said in one church there was a priest who was HIV-positive, and condoms could be found on the back benches of the church.
Napier said the Catholic Church would never promote condoms because the church was against birth control and premarital sex.
"There's also not a 100% medical or scientific evidence to prove that condoms prevent the transmission of Aids, and it's only 70 to 75% effective in preventing pregnancy," said Napier.
He said the government spoke about moral regeneration but did not think how the promotion of condoms affected human behaviour.
An angry Matwa, who says he lives openly with his HIV-positive status, said: "The cardinal is coming with a stupid message. It's either you use a condom or face premature death."
He said it would cause confusion among the youth and make the TAC's door-to-door campaigns even more difficult.
"We are a very sexually active nation. If you divide the number of condoms that are freely available among the public, it is not enough."
Matwa said the TAC was already pressuring the government to make more condoms available.
The organisation also challenged the government to get 200 000 people on anti-retrovirals by the end of 2005. There are 20 000 people on anti-retrovirals and the TAC said it was willing to help the government meet the challenge.
