Posted on 06/23/2006 4:26:59 PM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A medical journalist has added her voice to claims that the explosion in HIV/AIDS infection rates is directly linked to reliance on condom use as a virus preventative.
Writing for Crisis Magazine, prize-winning investigative journalist Sue Ellin Browder said the growing consensus among public health professionals is that condoms should only be used as a last measure of protection for persons involved in extremely high-risk activity such as sex-trade work.
Zenit News Agency reported yesterday on Browder’s conclusions. “So far, there’s no good evidence that condoms will reverse population-wide epidemics like those in sub-Saharan Africa,” Browder wrote. She offered evidence that dramatic increases in condom distribution in African nations paralleled an explosion in HIV/AIDS infection rates within the population.
Citing statistics from South Africa, Browder stated that condom distribution between 1994 and 1998 leaped to 198 million from 6 million, but death rates from HIV/AIDS in the years between 1997 and 2002 saw a massive 57 per cent increase.
A report from the UNAIDS agency in 2003 confirmed the dangers of relying on condoms to protect against the HIV/AIDS virus. The report showed that condoms are ineffective in protecting against HIV an estimated 10% of the time. That estimate, although itself a major blow to population control activists who have consistently claimed condoms to be 100% effective, is still far lower than some studies which have shown more than a 50% failure rate.
Ms. Browder’s report echoes the warnings of multiple medical experts, among them Dr. Norman Hearst of the University of California, who raised the alarm on condom use as an AIDS preventative in 2004. Dr. Hearst presented statistics showing a marked correlation between increased condom sales in the African nations of Kenya, Botswana, and others, and a parallel increase in HIV rates by year.
Promoting abstinence and marital faithfulness has had the only significant measurable impact on reducing HIV infection rates in Africa. The country of Uganda has achieved an unprecedented reduction in HIV transmission rates, up to 18%, with a program known as the ABC approach—‘A’ stands for ‘abstinence’ and ‘B’ for ‘be faithful.’ ‘C’, for ‘condom use’ is suggested only as a last-ditch effort to find some protection from the disease, recommended as a partial safety net for those who insist on engaging in high-risk sexual behaviour.
“Most sub-Saharan African nations, following the pro-condoms model, continue to suffer from rising HIV infection rates. Ugandan surveys show a reduction in premarital sexual activity among Ugandan youth and a reduction in extramarital activity among adults,” wrote Population Researcher Institute’s Joseph A. D’Agostino.
Ms. Browder herself has blamed the sexual revolution in Western society for leading directly to today’s AIDS epidemic, stating that, “If truth be told, the revolution has been a disaster…. Today we have more than two dozen varieties [of sexually transmitted disease], from pelvic inflammatory disease…to AIDS (which presently infects 42 million people worldwide and has already killed another 23 million),” in an article for Crisis Magazine in 2004.
Read Zenit News Agency coverage:
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=91414
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
United Nations Report says Condoms Fail to Protect against AIDS 10% of the Time
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/jun/03062303.html
New Research Confirms Condoms Not Effective in HIV Prevention
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jan/04011408.html
UN Anger Over Uganda's Successful Abstinence Program Fueled by Loss of Funds Says Researcher
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/oct/05101404.html
Abstinence and monogamy are the ONLY methods of safe sex.
DISCUSSION ABOUT:
Medical Journalist Says Reliance on Condoms Spreads HIV/AIDS
Condoms don't work and Red Ribbons sure as hell don't do any good!
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Agreed-upon monogamy is one thing, but using abstinence to avoid getting an STD is like avoiding a car accident by never leaving the house.
The problem here is no one has ever actually proved HIV causes AIDS.
Yes. And no one has ever actually proven that mosquito-borne parasites cause Malaria either, but you can infer from the evidence that that is the case.
ping
Well, the problem is promoting condom use as the be-all and end-all of protection.
I did a paper on this a while ago.
Condom use will protect people - most of the time. But not all of the time.
Studies have shown that the odds of contacting HIV via heterosexual sex from an infected source unprotected are somewhere between 1 in 500 and 1 in 2000ish. Condoms, if properly used (the very, very, very big if - especially in Africa) will make those odds even longer.
Other contributing factors, are other diseases - but, even so, given the science, it's hard to figure out the African AIDS statistics.
To put it in perspective, there have been about one million HIV cases in the United States up to the present time.
Of those, up-front statistics attribute about 700,000 of them to male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use.
Self-reported statistics attribute 160,000ish to heterosexual contact.
Of course, the actual number is much, much, much lower - better estimates (where, for example, they've simply taken any men with other diseases consistent with homosexuality) out, make the overall figure much lower. Perhaps half of that. Perhaps less.
In other words, something strange is going on in Africa.
My suspicion is much more homosexuality than it admitted, and more unsafe (read: anal) sex practices.
So then, in your opinion, what causes AIDS?
No one - except young young Jewish girl - ever abstained, yet got pregnant anyway.
well yes she was young, young, but I think I meant some young.
Damn! I thought that by using a red ribbon to tie the condom on tighter it would keep it in place!
Guess I'm going to have to rethink my strategy! ;-)
Well, in fact you're wrong about that.
During a Civil War battle, a musket ball pierced the scrotum of a soldier and lodged itself in the ovaries of a nearby civilian nurse. 9 months later a baby was born. Guilt free, in fact. I imagine that the soldier was pissed though.
Actually, I don't think any of that was true. But it was much nicer than bringing up rape.
Because of poor nutrition, harsh living conditions, lack of medical care and immunizations, as well as numerous diseases like malaria, yellow fever etc., their immune systems are compromised. There may also be coming-of-age initiation practices involving cutting foreskins with infected instruments. In some parts of Africa girls get circumsized. Also, women insert various herbs to dry and tighten their vaginas to enhance the sex experience for men. But that practice could lead to tearing the delicate skin and make them more suseptible to infection.
Status: False.
Everybody worries about what food they eat, the air they breath but the biggest killer is unprotected sex. It's the one sure way of getting a disease from your partner.
There was that brief period of time after the introduction of the pill that sex was recreational. Now it can be fatal. I think it's quite remarkable that society has become even more promiscuous just as sex has become more deadly.
"Actually, I don't think any of that was true. But it was much nicer than bringing up rape."
I'm a fan of snopes myself though. :-)
Around twenty years ago several disparate groups united in a common goal to scare the Hell out of the public by claiming "anyone" could contract AIDS. The facts never supported those claims. Individuals receiving tainted blood transfusions, sharing needles during illicit drug use, and being on the receiving end of certain sexual acts were the only ones with a real risk of catching AIDS. The rest of us have a better chance of being lightning struck that catching AIDS, regardless of whether or not we use a condom.
Not strange at all. They are given billion$$$$ for HIV. They don't even TEST for HIV! Guess what! They tell us they have lots of HIV.
Funny how that works, ain't it?
BTW - Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest growing region on Earth.
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