WHO welcomes papal statement on condoms

MANILA, Philippines — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday welcomed the pope’s statement on the use of condoms as an acceptable way to halt the spread of AIDS.

“The Pope’s statement is in line with evidence that condoms are highly effective in preventing infection with the HIV virus,” said Dr. Shin Young-soo, WHO’s Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “If used correctly and consistently, the male condom is the most efficient protection against the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.”

WHO leaders recognized that the pope’s statement did not directly endorse the use of condoms for contraception although they hope the statement would help open the minds of some sectors in the use of condom, particularly the Catholic church.

“The truth is there for everyone to see,” he said. “Unprotected sex is a central driver of the AIDS epidemic in Asia,” Dr. Shin said.

The prevalence of HIV among sex workers in the Asia Pacific region is about 20 percent and up to 30 percent among men having sex with men.

However, the Western Pacific region has been successful in preventing a generalized HIV epidemic. WHO cited Cambodia, Thailand, China and Myanmar as having intensive condom-use programs that helped avoid uncontrolled HIV spread among sex workers.

A report made by the Asia Commission on AIDS in 2008, estimated 75 million men in the region buy sex from 10 million sex workers, and also have sex with another 50 million regular or casual partners. An estimated 10 million men have sex with men, with a large number of them married.

“There are still 130 000 to 150 000 new infections every year in the Western Pacific Region, mostly related to high-risk lifestyles. These include unprotected sex, sharing drug needles, men having sex with men and with members of the transgender community,” WHO said.

A statement marking the World AIDS day on December 1, WHO warned that HIV cases in the region could increase more if people with risky lifestyles are not ‘targeted’ in anti-HIV programs.

“Despite stabilization of HIV prevalence in the Western Pacific — now below 0.1 percent — the number of new HIV infections must first decrease dramatically before the epidemic can be brought under control,” WHO said.

The health leaders said that condom remains the core strategy in preventing HIV and other sexually-transmitted infection (STI).

However, essential and affordable sexual and reproductive health services such as voluntary HIV counselling and testing, STI diagnosis and treatment, cervical cancer prevention, prevention of parent-to-child transmission, contraception counselling, abortion and post-abortion care and specialized support to the transgender community should be made available to sex workers to address other issues. –JENNY MANONGDO, Manila Bulletin