Chastity is the answer, not condoms

THE EDITOR:  Mayor Murchison Brown demonstrated that we do have leaders who have a true vision for our nation, which can ward off the onslaught of HIV/AIDS. In his speech at the HIV/AIDS Alliance/POS Corporation observance of World AIDS Day, he said that more focus should be given to promoting “no sex before marriage and fidelity in relationships” to prevent the spread of this deadly disease. It takes courage to suggest that our people, both young and old, refrain from sex before marriage and be faithful after, in order to stop this fatal virus from destroying more lives. To do so is to be viewed as a sour-faced moralist and met with ridicule and disbelief.

Condoms make big money — billions of dollars annually for manufacturers, distributors and retailers. We are brainwashed by powerful advertising and propaganda, so that many otherwise intelligent people are deceived into believing that the almighty condom will actually save lives. Uganda is the only country in Africa that has succeeded in turning back the tide of HIV/AIDS because of its strong, government-sponsored abstinence/be faithful programme, and we can now look at the record of Thailand and the Philippines. The first AIDS cases in both Thailand and the Philippines were diagnosed in 1984. In 1991, the World Health Organisation AIDS Programme predicted that by 1999 Thailand would have 60,000 to 80,000 cases, and the Philippines (with 12 million more people) would experience between 80,000 and 90,000 cases of HIV/AIDS. In 1992 Thailand’s Minister of Health launched his 100 percent Condom Use Programme.

Condom vending machines were placed in supermarkets, bars and all public places, and brothels were stocked with large supplies. The following year, the Secretary of Health in the Philippines tried, but failed to implement a similar programme there. The results — in 1999, UNAIDS reported 755,000 confirmed cases of HIV infection in Thailand - 65,000 had died of the disease. The same year, Philippines, recorded a total of 1,005 HIV cases — the disease had killed 225 people. The difference in the infection rates between these two countries, Thailand with heavy condom-oriented programmes and the Philippines without, has continued and only grows wider. In August 2003, there were 899,000 HIV/AIDS cases in Thailand resulting in 125,000 deaths. The Philippines however, at September 30, 2003, had only 1,946 HIV/AIDS cases resulting in 260 deaths. “AIDS-Free Philippines” is the only pro-chastity/abstinence and truth based anti-AIDS programme in the Philippines.

Look at the difference in HIV/AIDS infection in the Philippines and Thailand and the disastrous ineffectiveness of the condom solution. Yet even in face of these results, condom peddlers are still pushing to implement their “safe sex’ strategies in the Philippines. The condom  manufacturers never do give up — “the love of money....” There is a lot of pressure on teens, through their peers, advertising and the media, to casually surrender their virginity, thus exposing themselves to the danger of HIV. We must show that we value our dignity and integrity as persons created in the image and likeness of God. We must teach our children by the way we live out our vocation as parents and teachers, being models for them of true and faithful love, capable of self control, and desiring the true good of others. Our children can be chaste, they can wait for marriage. Will we teach them virtue or will we give them condoms and reproductive health teachings (aka contraception) in face of an epidemic that can wipe out a great number of our nation’s children.

Our ancestors would say: “even a blind man can see” that teaching the use of condoms to stem the spread of this fatal disease is playing Russian roulette with the lives of our children. Despite the massive flood of condoms shipped into the developing world over the past fifteen years, the rate of HIV/AIDS infection continues to increase — from just over 40,000 in 1990 to over 40 million in 2000. Why? Is this the perfect protection promised by the “safe sex” propaganda? With free treatment for victims of HIV/AIDS, one can also speculate the cost to Third World governments (and our own) in the coming years with the increasing numbers of patients to be given anti-retroviral treatment and drugs. HIV/AIDS is costly both in physical terms and in dollars and cents (free medication + hospitalisation + loss of human life). We should therefore understand why this epidemic will have a draining effect on both our health sector and our economy. Yes, we do need to take care of those stricken with this virus, however, we would be wise to choose the only way of stemming the spread of this fatal illness — and I once again thank Mayor Brown for pointing the way. Will we learn before it’s too late?

MARIA ANNETTE DOPWELL
Port-of-Spain