The Pope says Africans cannot rely on condoms to reduce the spread of H.I.V. and AIDS because condoms make the problem worse. AIDS workers there, uh, disagree:
Rebecca Hodes of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said that if the pope was serious about preventing new H.I.V. infections, he would focus on promoting wide access to condoms and spreading information on how best to use them.”Instead, his opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans,” said Ms. Hodes, director of policy, communication and research for the action campaign.
While she said the pope was correct that condoms were not the sole solution to Africa’s AIDS epidemic, she said they were one of the very few H.I.V. prevention mechanisms that work.
