Follow-up on the Pope’s Visit to Africa and the Condom Controversy

As I noted in an earlier entry, the Holy Father’s brief response to a reporter’s question about condoms during the flight to Cameroon created worldwide furor among media sources, the UN, NGOs and even some national governments. The Pope was excoriated for having had the audacity to contradict “scientific evidence” by saying that condoms were not the answer to the AIDS crisis, but in fact made things worse.

Well, as it turns out, “The Pope May Be Right” after all, as the title of Harvard School of Public Health senior research scientist Edward C. Green’s op-ed piece in this past Sunday’s Washington Post suggests, and that – to the contrary – the media, the UN, and many NGOs and national governments may be basing their responses to AIDS in Africa more on ideology and propaganda than on fact. Green argues that current empirical evidence supports the Holy Father’s assertion. He writes: “In theory, condom promotions ought to work everywhere. And intuitively, some condom use ought to be better than no use. But that's not what the research in Africa shows…” and concludes by stating: “Surely it's time to start providing more evidence-based AIDS prevention in Africa.”

For additional helpful information on the matter, see Dierdre Fleming’s article, "HIV/AIDS in Africa: What is the Science actually saying?" on the South African Catholic Portal site.