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Friday, March 29, 2024

Condom use ineffective–CBCP

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THE increasing number of people with the human immune deficiency virus proves that pushing for condom use is ineffective, a Catholic priest said Thursday.

Dan Cancino, Commission on Health Care executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, called on health advocates to reconsider their ways of addressing the increase in the spread of the virus among Filipinos.

“As we can see, the number of HIV cases is still rising. You distribute condoms and yet the numbers are still on the rise,” Cancino told the Church-run Radio Veritas.

“Maybe we should reconsider this matter as being the solution to the HIV menace. It appears that the goal of the intervention is far from the results.”

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Cancino made his statement even as Senator Risa Hontiveros said President Rodrigo Duterte “should stop making thoughtless, reckless and irresponsible statements at the expense of public health.”

She was reacting to Duterte’s comments on family planning and contraception, arguing against the use of condoms as a family planning option because it is “not pleasurable.”

“It’s not delicious if there’s a condom?” Hontiveros said. 

“President Duterte seems to be overly concerned with pleasure. There is nothing pleasurable or funny about the rise in our cases of HIV and teen pregnancy.”

By disapproving of condoms as a safe and reliable form of contraception, Hontiveros said, the President was denying the public the widest array of options to plan their families, protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and curb the growing number of teenage pregnancies.

Hontiveros, head of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, family Relations and Gender Equality, said Duterte’s public disapproval of condoms also put the burden of family planning on women.

“The President’s statement is a virtual insistence that women should continue to carry the burden of family planning alone,” Hontiveros said.

Cancino said the HIV problem would be solved through the provision of proper education, awareness based on gospel values, strengthening family ties and respecting life.

“These are the real keys in solving this HIV pandemic,” Cancino said.

Earlier in the week, the Health Department said 11,103 new HIV cases were reported last year.

These were higher than 9,264 new HIV cases reported in 2016, 7,831 in 2015, 6,011 in 2014, 4,814 in 2013 and 3,338 in 2012.

The department has long been promoting its campaign against HIV called ABC, which stands for Abstinence, Being faithful and Condom use. 

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