Church urged not to oppose promotion of condom use

MANILA, Philippines - A group advocating protection for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans-genders yesterday urged the Catholic Church not to oppose the promotion of condom use to combat HIV/AIDS.

Jonas Bagas, president of Dangal, said the Church should revisit its stand on the use of condoms, especially if it is intended to prevent the transmission of disease.

“If we will always listen to the Church, HIV will spread further because they do not base their stand on evidence,” Bagas said.

He said that based on scientific evidence, condom use as well as HIV testing and treatment could reduce the spread of the AIDS virus.

Bagas said that sexual abstinence could not reverse the rising number of HIV infections worldwide.

“If the Church will continue to resist condom use promotion, they will be contributing to the HIV epidemic in our country,” he added.

Since the sector of men-having-sex-with-men (MSM) is the primary source of new HIV infections in the country, Bagas said condom use could be an effective intervention tool.

Citing data from the Department of Health (DOH), he said that only 34 percent of MSM are using condoms.

He said the government should consider distributing syringes and needles since injecting drug users are also becoming a leading contributor of HIV cases in the country.

From 1984 to May 2013, the DOH recorded 13,954 HIV cases, and 1,272 of them have progressed into AIDS.

Of the 1,892 HIV cases recorded this year, 1,844 were due to sexual contact.