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South African Teachers Union: "We Won't Give Condoms to Kids"

African Countries with the highest condom usage have highest HIV infection rates

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

CAPE TOWN, May 26, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The National Professional Teachers' Organization of South Africa announced on Friday that they have no plans to hand out condoms to pupils.  Instead, they are encouraging teachers to advocate abstinence.

Union spokesman Mogamad Gasant stated, "We will not hand out condoms to learners. We do not support such a move in the Western Cape or in any of the other provinces."

According to Gasant, distributing condoms is the work of social services and other organizations dealing with such issues, and affirmed that a teacher's responsibility is only to educate pupils about these issues.

"The educational side of HIV and sexual responsibility is covered in the life orientation curriculum. Going beyond that and handing out condoms, the union will not endorse or support. We are rather encouraging our members to teach abstinence as the first line of defense."

African Countries with the highest condom usage, often encouraged or coerced by the United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) program, including Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, are the countries with the highest HIV infection rates. Countries with less condom use and organized abstinence programs in their schools, such as Uganda, Senegal, and Kenya, have much lower HIV rates.

Martin Ssempa, a Ugandan AIDS activist who has long condemned the United Nation's insistence on promoting condoms over abstinence, said in a previous LifeSiteNews report that, “UNAIDS has no success story. UNAIDS cannot point at any country where they have given advice and that country has brought HIV down."  The World Bank also reiterated this observation.

Despite the UN having swamped South Africa with condoms, especially during the past decade, AIDS continues to ravage the country.  Uganda, however, has had singular success in combating the deadly virus, and has done so with little reliance on condoms.

In fact, recent published studies reveal that reliance on condoms can contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS, and these studies offer support to South African teachers.

Medical journalist Sue Ellin Browder, who writes for Crisis Magazine, said, “So far, there’s no good evidence that condoms will reverse population-wide epidemics like those in sub-Saharan Africa,” and offered evidence that dramatic increases in condom distribution in African nations paralleled an explosion in HIV/AIDS infection rates within the population.

"Promoting abstinence and marital faithfulness has had the only significant measurable impact on reducing HIV infection rates in Africa. The country of Uganda has achieved an unprecedented reduction in HIV transmission rates, up to 18%, with a program known as the ABC approach—‘A’ stands for ‘abstinence’ and ‘B’ for ‘be faithful.’ ‘C’, for ‘condom use’ is suggested only as a last-ditch effort to find some protection from the disease, recommended as a partial safety net for those who insist on engaging in high-risk sexual behavior," she concluded.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com articles:

Medical Journalist Says Reliance on Condoms Spreads HIV/AIDS
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062304.html

STUDY: CONDOMS HELP TO SPREAD AIDS
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/feb/00021103.html

Ugandan AIDS Activist's Facts Trounce UN Official Claim that Catholic Church to Blame for AIDS Crisis
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07102507.html

After Massive Increase In Condom Use AIDS Continues To Ravage South Africa
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/dec/02120604.html

UN Anger Over Uganda's Successful Abstinence Program Fueled by Loss of Funds Says Researcher
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05101404.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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