Politics
Thursday August 12, 2004
Brazil's 3 Billion Free Condoms per year to Prevent AIDS Will Likely Worsen Situation
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BRASILIA, August 12, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Brazilian government is planning to distribute three billion free condoms per year in an effort to stem the country's skyrocketing HIV infection rate. Experts have warned that condoms are in no way a reliable method for preventing the spread of HIV. The availability of condoms statistically increases promiscuity and risk of contracting HIV according to medical experts who presented their findings on the HIV Pandemic in Washington, DC in January.
Dr. Norman Hearst of the University of California - San Francisco, for example, reported on statistics from Kenya, Botswana, and other countries, which showed an increasingly alarming pattern of increased condom sale correlation with rising HIV prevalence by year. Unfortunately, Hearst stated, we are "raising a generation of young people in Africa that believe that condoms will prevent HIV." This is concerning because condoms are not 100% effective, even when used properly. According to Hearst, "the most recent Met-analysis came up with 80%, but even if it is 90%, over time it's the question of when, not if."
Also, Edward C. Green, a senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, told the Boston Globe that the United Nations finding of a one in ten failure rate of condoms protection from AIDS is "not good enough for a fatal disease. The way condoms are marketed in Africa and other developing parts of the world is as if they were 100 percent safe," he warned. "Condoms have brand names like Shield and Protector that gives the impression that they are 100 percent safe."
Authorities from Brazil's Roman Catholic Church -- in the world's most Catholic country -- warn that free condoms will only encourage greater levels of promiscuity.
Brazil has 600,000 suspected and 200,000 known HIV-infected individuals. Three billion condoms works out to 35 condoms for each of the 85 million citizens per year.
Read the related Reuters news report: http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5941932§i...
Read the related LifeSiteNews.com reports:
New Research Confirms Condoms Not Effective in HIV Prevention
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jan/04011408.html
United Nations Report says Condoms Fail to Protect against AIDS 10% of the Time
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/jun/03062303.html
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