Dr. Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, told National Review Online last week that despite AIDS activists and media outlets pounding the pope for downplaying the effectiveness of condoms, the science actually supports the Catholic leader's claim.
"The pope is correct," Green told NRO, "or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope's comments."
read the article here http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?f... According to Green, however, the pope's critics have bought into a common myth about condoms and AIDS.
"We have found no consistent associations between condom use and lower HIV-infection rates," said Green, "which, 25 years into the pandemic, we should be seeing if this intervention was working."
Instead, Green noted, the pope's encouragement of Africans toward monogamous sexual relationships has proven to be a much more effective strategy:
"The best and latest empirical evidence indeed shows that reduction in multiple and concurrent sexual partners is the most important single behavior change associated with reduction in HIV-infection rates," Green said.
In Uganda, according to a report in Science magazine, teaching about AIDS and promoting monogamy has led to a dramatic turnaround in the country's AIDS epidemic. Why must those who are not Catholic, or do not agree with him, must resort to name calling? Is that the ONLY way that they feel they can be heard? What a shame that they must degrade themselves like that...
The statement of agreement is...
***"...Dr. Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, told National Review Online last week that despite AIDS activists and media outlets pounding the pope for downplaying the effectiveness of condoms, the science actually supports the Catholic leader's claim..."***
Africa is in a desperate state of affairs. AIDS in of itself is by far a most devistaing disease. The thoughts of people as a whole is to prevent the spread of AIDS, yet they do not understand that the main recourse of the spreading of AIDS is because of the gorrilla warriors that kidnap and rape the women, leaving carvings on the inner thighs to show that they have been violated, therefore unfit for marriage. With such brutality going on, it's a wonder that we even consider condoms as a tool of prevention..
AFRICA by definition is that of violence and condemnation. There many believe is the cradle of life, now has become the cradle of death, by many forms.
Holy Father BenedictXVI is not some ignorant person, he is well educated, and versed in the going ons in our volitale world today.
***"...I am not going to Africa with a political or economic agenda, which would lie outside my competence. I am going with a programme that is religious, to do with faith and morals, but this too has an essential contribution to make to the problem of the current economic crisis. We all know that a fundamental element of the crisis is the ethical deficit in economic structures. It has been understood that ethics is not something 鈥渙utside鈥?the economy, but 鈥渋nside鈥? and that the economy does not function if it does not include the ethical element. Therefore, speaking of God and speaking of the great spiritual values that constitute the Christian life, I will try to make my own contribution, which should also help to overcome the present crisis, and to renew the economic system from within, which is where the real crisis lies. And of course I shall be appealing for international solidarity...."***
Read and learn before defamming yourself by namecalling How about Harvard itself? Is that credible enough for you?
http://www.harvardaidsprp.org/faculty-st...
Keep the Faith Catholic Defender!!!
The Protestant Radio station in OC California also Agreed with the Holy Father, the Pope.
Peace be with you.
<<<Devout Catholic>>> Well you got the answers i suspect you knew that you would get from a bunch of secular and probably homosexuals let along the do it if it feels good and i'll find justification for it later crowd. I'll bet you all the gold in Ft Knox if Obama had been the one who said it that they all would be calling him the wisest man who ever lived. Just reading most the answers you got should explain why the world is ready for the man of sin whom the whole world will worship in awe. Tell that to hundreds of thousands of Africans. They're dying and abstinence is obviously not being practiced.
Add - Well, I'm glad it's helping somewhere. (As you mentioned Uganda). I don't disagree with the pope's ideal, but I am concerned that it will be taken the wrong way. For Colette, so her head won't explode:
"Harvard Aids expert says Pope 'correct' on condoms and spread of HIV"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment...
pab's link is even better, since it is straight from the horse's mouth (thanks, pab; I hadn't seen that piece yet).
"[I]n truth, current empirical evidence supports him." -- Edward C. Green, world renowned expert on AIDS in Africa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
About Green:
"Green is a world renowned expert on AIDS in Africa, and a member of the President's Advisory Council for HIV/AIDS, as well as the Research Advisory Council, Office of AIDS, National Institute of AIDS. He is a medical anthropologist, and Senior Research Scientist in the School of Public Health, Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard University. His work in developing countries has spanned Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. He is also the author several books as well as more than 300 journal articles, book chapters, presented papers, and commissioned reports. Dr. Green is currently lead researcher on the role of behavioral change in HIV/AIDS epidemics in Africa and southeast Asia, under a US government-funded research project. He has recently testified in both houses of congress on AIDS issues."
http://www.aids.org/aboutUs/profile.html
More about Green:
http://www.harvardaidsprp.org/faculty-st... Well, that is good to hear about. It seems that the U.N. the W.H.O and planned parenthood have been throwing condoms at Africa for years to no effect. The holy father is right, again. Pax Christi uh oh, World Net Daily is not a respectable source
but still.... he is right. Condoms break all the time Amen!
If airlines crashed half as often as condoms fail, nobody would ever set foot in an airplane again. They aren't working because they aren't being used. And people say that Christians ignore the facts of reality. Well right now I'm seeing many atheists doing that exact thing. Thanks for posting this. He's a-da freakin-a pope! Sorry, my head would explode if I actually clicked on a WND link. He was right. To be gay is a choice,and it's wrong. Evil things bring evil fruit. That is just common sense. Here are the studies that are gen'l accepted among peers. Of course the best way to prevent transmission
is abstinence and faithfulness to a single partner. However to believe that correctly and consistently using
condoms has no effect is beyond ignorance regardless of a persons position. The geographical location of
a condom does not change the properties of the condom. What may be at question is if it is being used
correctly and consistently and are the condoms being used the proper quality.
After reading the below studies, ask your self if your partner contracted the virus (let's say by accidentally
exposure while working in the health care field) would you have safe sex or no sex. It is a question that
you can only answer for or self and each person should have the same rite of making that fully informed
decision .
Condom Effectiveness
The male condom is a sheath worn on the erect penis to prevent the exchange of body fluids during sexual
intercourse. The use of condoms to prevent pregnancy can be traced as far back as the 16th century.
Technology developed in the 1930s is the basis for the modern natural rubber latex condom (WHO/
UNAIDS 2001).
To be effective in preventing both pregnancy and HIV/STIs, condoms must be used correctly and
consistently. The following guidelines are instrumental in maximizing condom effectiveness:
Do not open the condom package with a sharp object.
Do not unroll the condom before putting it on.
Do not use an oil-based lubricant.
Put the condom on before any genital contact takes place.
Use a condom for each act of sexual intercourse.
Do not use the same condom twice (Lamptey and Goodridge 2002; WHO/UNAIDS 2001).
The effectiveness of condoms has been the subject of a great deal of research. One recent review of
multiple studies found that the consistent use of condoms during sexual intercourse results in an 80
percent reduction in HIV incidence, a level of protection slightly less effective than for pregnancy (Weller
and Davis 2003). In 2001, the United States Department of Health and Human Services concluded that
male latex condoms are effective in reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Studies analyzed for this
conclusion demonstrated 鈥渁n 85 percent decrease in risk of HIV transmission among consistent condom
users versus non-users鈥?(US DHHS 2001).
The most conclusive evidence of condom effectiveness in reducing HIV/AIDS transmission has come
from studies of serodiscordant couples, in which one person is infected with HIV and one person is not.
One study in Italy followed 305 sexually active HIV-negative female partners of HIV-positive men for
approximately two years. Within the study, a total of 3.9 infections occurred per 100 person-years, and the
incidence of HIV diminished by 84 percent in women who always used condoms as opposed to those who
used them occasionally or never. Less than two percent of the 171 women who always used a condom
became infected. In a multi-country European study of serodiscordant couples, none of the HIV-negative
partners of HIV-positive men or women became infected when using condoms at every intercourse. In a
Haitian study, the infection rate among serodiscordant couples who always used condoms was 1 per 100
couples (McNeill et al. 2001).
On a larger scale, evidence in favor of condom effectiveness is supported by the experience of the
government of Thailand. The Thai government's 鈥?00-percent condom policy,鈥?which required
commercial sex workers and their clients to use condoms for every act of intercourse, led to an increase in
the use of condoms from 14 percent in 1989 to 94 percent in 1994, and a decrease in cases of bacterial
STIs from 410,406 in 1987 to 29,362 in 1994. Countries such as Ethiopia, Uganda, and Vietnam have
also achieved a dramatic increase in condom use through national programs promoting condoms for HIV/
STI prevention (WHO/UNAIDS 2001). Condoms have never been 100% preventative in pregnancies nor STDs. And other birth control isn't 100% preventative in pregnancies and not with STDs at all. The pope is right to speak about self-control. Women have their period once a month. They can have sex 3 weeks out of the month without getting pregnant. Some women have irregular periods and can get preg more or less often than that. As far HIV and AIDS, when someone has either, they shouldn't have sex anymore. A condom can't stop the spread of them but can slow the spread down some what. This is a know fact.
The men in Africa have sex whenever they want it and the women have no say in it. A husband can force their wife into sex, literally raping her. She can get HIV and will spread it to her children when she becomes pregnant. Self control, education and wisdom is the only way to stop the spread of this fatal disease. The people there have seen AIDS face-to-face for many years and still aren't doing anything about it. So this is what you get for trying to help people.
Will anyone ever understand that "the rules" are there to benefit the individual as well as all of mankind?
They are not there to restrict or oppress us-they are there that we may live life to the fullest.
Just like the dietary laws of the Old Testament,they were given so that a person could be healthy (disease and illness from the consumption of pork in those days was rampant due to improperly cooked/prepared meat)
We are asked to forgive to benefit the other but also for our own benefit-the medical community has proved that persons who have "anger issues" are more likely to suffer from health problems...
And what of the recent upswing in the incidents of latex allergies? Such allergies are deadly to some.And of course latex is the choice product in condom manufacturing.
And why is "abstinence" such an impossibility? Are humans so weak they can't wait? We are not able to discipline ourselves that much?
Not only is condom use unreliable in the prevention of HIV-it is unnatural to use them.
What may we find condoms have caused in future? Will it be as bad as the diseases and illnesses caused by the IUD? Will they be as bad or worse than the very illnesses they are supposed to prevent?
God loves us - that is why he gave us an instruction manual. The Pope is wrong. Green is wrong. He is an anthropologist, not an epidemiologist.
The evidence (and every actual expert in the world) indicates otherwise.
Condoms DO slow the spread of HIV. Yes, monogamous relationships would also help, but it unrealistic that people will adhere to this.
The answer: both. The fact remains, denying that condoms work will kill people. All you've done is re post what that rag WND posted, an article which plays fast and loose with the facts. That should come as a surprise to no one. What they failed to point out was that condom use has been integral to the success Uganda has had with their "ABC" program: Abstain, be faithful, and use Condoms if A and B fail. What they also don't mention is that the previous administration succumbed to pressure from the religious right and made it tougher for countries in Africa to receive US aid money if condom use was being promoted. These sanctimonious fundamentalists weren't looking at empirical data. They were trying to impose their version of morality. Correction:
Dr. Edward C Green meant that condoms were not working in AFRICA.
In America and many other countries, they very much help prevent the spread of disease, as statistics show.
Try quoting an unbiased source that gets the whole truth, and not just the partial truth that looks good. Fine, but no matter what, it's either condoms or unprotected. You can't get a whole continent to stop having sex.
Condoms or unprotected, which do you prefer?
Also, Uganda is not Africa. You can't necessarily expect the results to be the same.
Why not just teach how to correctly use condoms? It's life or death, I think anybody who feels like risking it is crazy. Seriously, how can you even assert that a person using proved protection is putting himself at risk? Abstinence obviously doesn't work. One researcher who is most likely Catholic backs him up. I'm not impressed. Plus isn't world net daily a Roman Catholic outlet??? Retard, no one says that abstinence is not the best way to avoid the spread of HIV.
Your Catholic Poope is unrealistic in thinking that he can make people stop having sex.
And the retard is unwilling to bend on the issue. I feel that hundreds of thousands of free copies of the King James Version bible would narrow the sexual activity real quick. Whats wrong with people like you?
First imaginary friends talking to you and now you think Deadly diseases can talk as well. There is no Biblical authority for a pope or priests. AIDS would be gone if people would abstain. The WND is not a credible news source. It is a daily online test of Poe's Law. The consistent and correct use of condoms does prevent the transmission of AIDS. This has been proven repeatedly.
The Pope should have just been honest and said that condom use goes against his religion. Catholic missionaries have gone to Africa and told the people there that condoms actually cause AIDS. This is an outright lie that should shame those who spread it and outrage the rest of the Catholic Church.
http://www.cdc.gov/condomeffectiveness/l...
Saying that monogamy is safer, therefore condoms aren't effective is as ignorant as saying walking is safer than driving, therefore wearing seatbelts causes death. Ah, so just because someone decided to agree with what a crazy old man says, it should always remain true despite there not really being any other forms of protection for people of Africa? Interesting.
You are never going to be able to control what people do. And so many there have it they are STILL going to spread it, monogamous or not.
What's next, are they going to tell people that sticks are ineffective weapons against lions, so if you're attacked just forget the stick and don't bother to even attempt to protect yourself? Just throw yourself into it's mouth. National Review and World News Daily?
Did the BatBoy comment also?
Next you are going to tell us that Fox News says Obama is the Anti Christ.......
Heh did you even read the article through? he is claiming that condom promotion hasn't worked in Africa. Maybe because of the superstitions that still persist over there, included Catholic superstitions?
What Green and the Pope fail to mention is that allot of Married Girls are getting aids from thier husbands. Are you proposing abstinence in marriage as well.
Understand that arranged marriages between older men and young girls is still practiced by a majority of people in Africa. So these older men, marry virgin girls who then get Aids from them. Condom use would help those poor girls, but never you mind. I am sure God will sort them all out after they suffer and die. | 