The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Southern Africa, Cardinal Wilfred Napier, criticised the government on Monday for promoting condoms in the fight against HIV/Aids ”when it’s clearly not working”.
Napier said only drastic change in sexual behaviour will stop the spread of the disease.
”Why can’t we follow the example of the one country in Africa, Uganda, that has successfully reduced its infection rate from something like 29% to 5% in just 10 years?” Napier asked.
He said in Uganda everyone from the top down, starting with the president, has preached the same message: ”Change your behaviour … change your behaviour.”
He said in Uganda condoms have never been a consideration because the country’s entire campaign is focused on abstinence, which the South African government says is part of its campaign while still distributing condoms.
Napier said 10% of people living in South Africa are Catholics and the church is actively involved in home-based care and the administering of anti-retrovirals with the help of the government.
”There’s no medical evidence to prove that condoms prevent the transmission of Aids and it’s only 70% to 75% effective in preventing pregnancy,” said Napier.
He believes women are the most vulnerable when it comes to HIV/Aids because there ”are so many chaps who go from one person to another spreading the disease”.
”Government speaks about moral regeneration but it does not think how the promotion of condoms affects human behaviour.”
He said the church will never promote condoms because it is against birth control and pre-marital sex.
However, where one partner in a marriage has Aids and the other does not, it is up to that couple to decide whether to use condoms or to abstain from sex.
Napier said he does not have first-hand knowledge to comment on reports that the Catholic Church in Spain had last week agreed to work with that country’s government and support the use of condoms in the fight against Aids.
That was followed by a similar statement from the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom, but the Spanish church then apparently changed its stance again following a rebuke from the Vatican. — Sapa