Some Easter Sunday news to ponder upon. Dr Philip Jensen, The Dean of Sydney’s Anglican Cathedral says that Viriginia Woolf and her ilk are to blame for promiscuity and the sexual revolution that plagues modern society. At the nearby St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, Dr George Pell agrees with Pope Benedict XVI that condoms promote promiscuity. While we could agree with Pope Benedict that abstinence and monogamy can really block HIV infections, it is indeed harder to connect promiscuity with condom use.

Anglican wags of the liberal kind say that “at least we know who is he afraid of!”

Cardinal Pell and Dr Jensen are entitled to their opinions in the pulpit. However when Cardinal Pell uses the Philippines as an example of low HIV infection rates  and CONNECTS this to the fact that this country is a majority Catholic one, he is treading in dangerous waters.

Pell’s argument is a logical fallacy especially when he connects it with higher infection rates in Buddhist Thailand. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that Thailand’s HIV prevalence rate has dropped significantly  as a direct result of promoting condom use but…..

Condom use has been dropping from 96% to 56% in recent years and that as in other parts of Asia, IV drug use is a major route of infections.

But Pell says

“The AIDS infection rate in the Philippines, a Catholic country, was much lower than in nearby Thailand.”

“If you look at the Philippines you’ll see the incidence of AIDS is much lower than it is in Thailand which is awash with condoms.”

Pell obviously didn’t read the WHO HIV-AIDS status reports. While Philippine HIV prevalence rates remain at <0.1 %, the Philippine National AIDS Council reports that HIV infection rates have been picking up since 2000 ( about at the same time Thailand’s HIV prevalence started to come down). Today 10 cases are registered each month in the Philippines. What alarms UNICEF Philippines is that  mother to child transmission cases have been registered. Much of new infections diagnosed involved Filipinos who have worked overseas.

And this should be in all Pinoy minds. While prevalence rates are still low, the fact that we have a large population means a lot of people are living with HIV. Most of these people are asymptomatic. Also since much of the new infections involved overseas Filipinos, the current economic recession may result in many Pinoys coming home. If a significant fraction of these people practised unsafe sex, then expect prevalence rates at home to increase.

WHO and UNICEF conclude that the “preconditions for a full blown epidemic are present”. These are complicated by low condom use  (30%), primarily heterosexual mode of transmission (86%), a young sexually active population (median age 21 years) and misconceptions on HIV-AIDS are still prevalent. Perhaps the true state of the nation’s sexual health is reflected in STI prevalence rates. The most common STI remains gonorrhea (23% in males and 7% in females) and chlamydia (5.1% both sexes).

The stigma on people living with HIV is high with people believing that HIV can destroy the family. Thus only 30% of Filipinos are willing to care for a family member with HIV and it seems this attitude cuts throughout Philippine socio-economic classes.

We cannot afford an HIV-AIDS pandemic. If in the West, doctors (and some insurance companies) can classify HIV-AIDS as chronic and manageable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, we can’t. Many Filipinos cannot even afford the maintenance drugs for high blood pressure or diabetes. What more of retrovirals?

What I have written goes underneath the supposedly Catholic Christian nature of Philippine Society.

Perhaps Cardinal Pell should immerse himself in Philippine realities.

As for Dr Jensen, being afraid of Virginia Woolf is not as bad as being frightened by a looming HIV-AIDS pandemic in the Philippines. However that is what fundamentalism only engenders, fear. WE NEED SCIENCE AND OBJECTIVITY to deal with the problem. Then there is no reason to fear.

And of course we need compassion and understanding since we are dealing with human beings. There is no room for condemnation here.  After all how can anyone condemn two babies born with HIV who have been registered in our HIV-AIDS registry?

And BTW I do agree with Pope Benedict, monogamy within marriage is best!

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