Wednesday July 12, 2006
Homosexuality Hurting Efforts to Stop AIDS: Nigerian Official
By John Jalsevac
NIGERIA, July 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Nigerian Chairman of
the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA) has said that he believes
that rising instances of what he calls the "foreign" practice of homosexuality in Nigeria is harming efforts
to end the AIDS pandemic.
Allafrica.com reports that Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin made the remarks to members of the media at NACA’s Corporate Headquarters.
Homosexuality, in particular, and other high-risk sexual activity in
general, including sex with multiple partners, only serve to increase
the chances that HIV/AIDS will be spread, said Osotimehin, as reported by
allafrica.com. He lamented that because of the underground nature of
the homosexual subculture, it is difficult to extend counselling
services to those who engage in homosexual behaviour.
Instead of engaging in behaviour that seriously harms the effort to put
an end to AIDS, the Chairman suggested that “preventive” measures that
strike at the heart of the problem must be taken.
“The war against HIV/AIDS can only be won through preventive approach,
much more than through treatment. This is why we stress people stay
away from all forms of risky behaviours.”
Osotimehin pointed to the statistical successes in Uganda as evidence of the efficacy of such preventive measures.
In the early 1990s officials in Uganda made the logical leap that since
HIV is primarily passed via sexual contact, if individuals didn’t have
sex with those infected with HIV then they wouldn’t be infected. Since
then the nation has successfully and significantly lowered its rate of
HIV infection, and infuriated UN condom-only AIDS agencies, by pursuing
a program of abstinence education that encourages marital fidelity and
sexual restraint as the surest means of avoiding infection.
Read Allafrica.com's coverage:
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200607101102.html
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Uganda AIDS Prevention Success Being Undermined by Infuriated UN Condom-Pushers
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05020408.html
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