GENEVA, July 7: The Catholic church, one of the world's staunch opponents against the use of the condom for the prevention of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), has come under fire from delegates at the 12th world conference on AIDS for its opposition to safe sex.The church, which promotes abstinence for unmarried people and sticking to one partner for married couples, argues that the promotion of condoms leads to immorality. This stand has, however, been scoffed at by lobby groups and condom producers. ``We promote condoms, not for commercial purposes, but because the condom remains the only vaccine against HIV infection,'' says Catherine Taylor of the British condom manufacturing company, Durex.``The church is only acting in ignorance. It is time it changed its hard-line policies,'' said Janey Woodworth, from an Australian company. Adding her voice to the debate, Christel Lindgren of the International AIDS society says: ``We all need to step outside the religious dogma and try to do ourbest to fight the disease.'' Ggideon Byamugisha, an Anglican priest from Uganda, says that church leaders should recognise their influence on people and seek to give advice that will save innocent lives.``We exert a lot of influence on the people we lead in many areas of decision making, but sadly, many church leaders are not giving accurate information on what people can do to avoid being infected or passing the virus to others,'' said Byamugisha.Byamugisha cites the case of Uganda, where about two million people are infected with the virus. Studies show that 90 per cent of the East African country's population of 20 million engage in active sex, while only 10 percent abstain. ``The church has responsibility over the 90 per cent,'' he said.According to the latest UN AIDS report, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 21 million out of the 30 million people already infected with the HIV virus worldwide. To reduce the infection, the Geneva-based United Nations agency has called for consensus amonggovernments, pharmaceutical industries, non- governmental organizations (NGOs), and churches to fight the spread of the disease.Another profile says that an array of more than 36 new drugs available in the market help in prolonging the lives of people infected by the virus. But these are not at an affordable price to infected people in developing and under-developed countries - a yearly dose of the cocktail drug ranges between 15,000 and 20,000 dollars.Byamugisha says a consensus within the Catholic church on the use of the condom is possible if ``we are dealing with church leaders who use their power in church to control the spread of HIV, but not those who use AIDS to maintain their grip on power to control the church.''Robert Vitillo, a Catholic priest, however, says that criticisms directed at the church are made without looking at what the church has contributed. ``We have played a larger role in AIDS outside the condom debate. We have set up education programmes all over the developing worldnot only on health, but also spiritual care.''Vitillo's comments were, however, dismissed by some delegates as an unnecessary defence.``This is not the time for the church to defend itself, it is time for change,'' said a delegate from Brazil. While, others say that confrontation with the church will not help the fight against AIDS. ``Church leaders need understanding and support in order to grip the growing menace of AIDS, not unhelpful criticism,'' said a Nigerian delegate at the conference.
