PHA-Exch> CONDOMS ESSENTIAL ELEMENT IN FIGHTING AIDS EPIDEMIC – UN

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Mauro Guarinieri mauro.guarinieri at gmail.com

This week, in his first visit to Africa, Pope Benedict said: "Don't use
condoms - even to prevent the spread of AIDS".

The Pope's statement is a huge setback to decades of hard work on AIDS
prevention, education and awareness. With powerful influence over more than
1.1 billion Catholics in the world, and with 22 million HIV positive
Africans, these words could dramatically affect the AIDS pandemic and put
millions of lives at risk. Worldwide pressure on the Vatican is starting to
show results - sign our urgent petition asking the Pope to immediately stop
speaking out against condoms:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/pope_benedict_petition/97.php/?cl_tta_sign=27a3390f473c92b33e51d34e90364e3d

Everyone is entitled to their own religious and personal beliefs, but the
Pope - who holds enormous moral authority for millions - is spreading
dangerous misinformation. His claim that condoms make AIDS worse is untrue.
And deadly.

The fact is, HIV and AIDS are prevented by condom use. That is why even
priests and nuns working in Africa have questioned the Pope's misleading
statements.

We may not be asking the Catholic Church to change its broader position, but
we are asking the Pope to stop actively speaking out against prevention
strategies that work. It's important that people of all beliefs, especially
Catholics, show that they do not approve of the Pope’s dangerous anti-condom
statements. Sign below then spread the word to your friends and family -
this petition could actually save lives:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/pope_benedict_petition/97.php/?cl_tta_sign=27a3390f473c92b33e51d34e90364e3d

25 million people worldwide have already died of AIDS, and 12 million
children have been left without parents. If enough of us join this outcry
now, we could win an important battle in the struggle for a world without
AIDS.
From: UNNews <UNNews at un.org>

CONDOMS ESSENTIAL ELEMENT IN FIGHTING AIDS EPIDEMIC – UN
New York, Mar 18 2009  2:00PM
With over 7,400 new HIV infections daily, comprehensive approaches –
including condom use – are essential to stop the spread of the AIDS
epidemic, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said
today, warning that there is no “single magic bullet” for prevention.

“Condoms are an essential part of combination prevention,” which also
includes access to HIV information and treatment, waiting longer to become
sexually active, reducing multiple partners and concurrent relationships,
ensuring human rights and reducing stigma, the agency said in a press
statement.

“An HIV prevention approach based solely on one element does not work and
can hinder the AIDS response,” <"
http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/PressCentre/PressReleases/2009/20090318_ComprehensivePrevention.asp">UNAIDS
stressed. “There is no single magic bullet for HIV prevention.”

It appealed to nations to use a mix of behavioural, biomedical and
structural HIV prevention actions to meet anti-disease needs.

Countries must understand the epidemic and tailor their response
accordingly, the agency said, calling on nations to use all human
rights-grounded approaches that are informed by evidence.

The most recent UNAIDS report on the global scourge shows how significant
increases in HIV prevention and treatment efforts are producing results in
several countries.

Condom use among young people with multiple partners is gaining momentum in
some nations hardest hit by HIV, including Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Kenya,
Uganda and Zambia.

Sub-Saharan Africa is still the most heavily HIV-affected region in the
world, with some 22 million people living with the disease, and the region
accounting for two-thirds of all people living with HIV and for
three-quarters of deaths from AIDS.

Last week, UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibé said that even in the face of the
current global economic turmoil, investing in AIDS responses is crucial to
prevent 1.3 million deaths in the next two years, highlighting how the
agency’s top priority is to achieve universal access to HIV prevention,
treatment, care and support.

“Universal access means saving lives and restoring dignity to people,” Mr.
Sidibé told reporters in Geneva.

It encompasses stopping mothers from dying and babies from being infected
with the virus; stopping people living with HIV from dying of tuberculosis;
and stopping drug users from becoming infected with HIV, he said.

During the financial crisis, “economic adjustments should be made with a
human face in mind,” he stated, underscoring that a mother should not have
to choose between receiving treatment and feeding her children.

Resources for responses to AIDS should be viewed as investments, and not
expenditures, to avert 2.6 million new HIV infections and to put nearly 7
million people on a course of treatment, he told journalists at his first
press conference since taking office as UNAIDS Executive Director.
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