Preventing AIDS Is Not Rocket Science

The Stiletto Blog ^ | August 21, 2006 | The Stiletto

[theothercheek]

Columnist Kathryn Jean Lopez details low-cost, low-tech and high-ROI anti-AIDS programs being initiated in several African nations that appear to be succeeding where “safe sex” has been a miserable failure:

[T]here's nothing mysterious about AIDS prevention. The ABC [“abstinence, be faithful and condoms”] approach is the one that has shown results. As Harvard researcher Edward C. Green has phrased it, “Uganda rocked the world of AIDS prevention by promoting ‘sticking to one partner’ and delaying the age of first sex.” He wrote earlier this year: “The broad trend in Africa is in fact toward higher levels of monogamy, fidelity and abstinence, and the trend in HIV prevalence is incrementally downward. We now see HIV prevalence decline in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Senegal and probably other African countries as well.” … [T]he key is “no sex outside marriage … if both partners follow this, we will ‘stop AIDS’.” ...

All the money and medicine in the world will do little to stop the inexorable swath of destruction that AIDS is wreaking throughout Africa – and elsewhere – if people do not abandon behavior that puts them at high-risk of contracting the disease. Making condom use the cornerstone of AIDS prevention is not viable as a public health policy because it does not address the Number One risk factor for contracting AIDS – promiscuity:

The over-emphasis on condom use for "safe sex" has created the false impression that all sexual behaviors are equally risky. Yet homosexual men use condoms more than heterosexual couples. Nonetheless, homosexuals are a high risk group for a host of illnesses, while among heterosexuals, only prostitutes are considered at high risk. …

The media constantly portray the gay lifestyle as parallel to normal heterosexual life, but the lifestyles are not remotely the same. For example, extreme promiscuity occurs in only a small percentage of the general population. According to the National Health and Social Life survey, the average number of lifetime sex partners in the general population is four (six for men, two for women). By comparison, numerous studies show that gay men typically have hundreds of sex partners. ...

The Stiletto believes that any anti-AIDS program that encourages fidelity among partners – whether heterosexual or homosexual – is much more likely to be effective than promoting the false and fatal message that you can “do your own thing” just as long as you wear a condom. Embryologists and theologians will debate whether sexual orientation is hardwired into the brain in the womb, or is a sinful lifestyle choice, but what is beyond debate is that promiscuity is one lifestyle choice that can be changed by homosexuals and heterosexuals alike. That’s the single, unified AIDS-prevention message the Catholic Church (anti-condom) and public health officials (pro-condom) should promote – and not only in the Third World, but in Western nations, too.

NOTE: This is an excerpt from the "On The Cutting Edge" feature.

SEE ALSO:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/KathrynJeanLopez/2006/08/20/aids_prevention_simple_as_abc

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10027

[N. Theknow]

Preventing AIDS Is Not Rocket Science

Simple. Aim for the mound of Venus and not Uranus.

[vimto]

This is one of the clear issues where the liberal-luvvey-left would rather have millions dying of AIDS than do the right thing because it doesn't fit in with their agenda.

Blood on their hands once again.

[MainFrame65]

" == Blood on their hands once again. == "

Not just their hands....