I think ideological propaganda is unconscionable, irresponsible and dangerous, especially in regards to a grave public health-related issue such as this one. Abstinence, fidelity and condoms are all very important in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. The roles played by these commonsensical measures are quite obvious, as are their limitations.
Advice to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage would be great if followed, but is quite obviously impractical because of low compliance. It is also utterly impractical, and perhaps, cruel, within marital relationships, wherein one spouse is HIV-positive, as Josebab has pointed out elsewhere. In such a case, use of the condom is a very valid option. Condoms and other forms of contraception are also useful in preventing pregnancies when a woman has AIDS, and maternal-to-fetal transmission is a possibility, irrespective of whether her male partner has HIV/AIDS or not. Please see one of the links below for information about the scientific evidence for condom effectiveness in AIDS prevention. Here are some important links regarding HIV/AIDS from a responsible public health agency, namely U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and not some narrow extraneous agenda-driven ideological or religious organization: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/prep.htm http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/projects/perinatal/materials/OptOut.htm http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/condoms.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/hcwprev.htm http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/pdf/oralsex.pdf Cheers, Santosh _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
