CBCI Launches War Against HIV/AIDS, Spells Out Policy

New Delhi – The Commission for Health, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), supported by the Futures Group and the United States Agency for International Development, has recently launched its war against AIDS and has underlined its policy against the dreaded disease.

ABC is the war–cry of the Church: A for Abstinence, B for Be Faithful but a very silent C for Condom. Why? Because use of condoms is prohibited by the Catholic faith. While addressing the issue of its war against AIDS, the supreme body of the Catholic Church in India has announced that though it would provide all the information about ‘safe sex’, yet, it would not actively promote or propagate the use of contraceptives.

According to James Veliath, who is co–ordinating the CBCI programme on HIV/AIDS in the northern region, the draft policy along with another on health is in the final stages.

“In India, this is the first time that such a policy is being made after discussions with dioceses all over the country. It is expected to be finalized by the end of this year,” said Veliath, who represented the church at the inaugural meeting of the South Asia Inter–Religious Council on HIV/AIDS.

The UNICEF and the World Conference of Religions for Peace supports the formation of the Council, which includes 30 senior religious leaders from eight South Asian countries.

Veliath made it clear that the church is prepared to go as far as A and B of US President George W. Bush’s ABC formula for HIV prevention.

“The church will not be promoting or propagating the use of condoms. We will, however, provide all information about it. In case a couple wants to use it, we would suggest they speak to their pastor and then take a decision based on what their conscience says,” he said.

“We think principles like A for Abstinence and B for Be Faithful are very important and this is what people should follow to avoid contracting HIV infections.”

"A and B are the safest and the most efficient ways to prevent HIV infection," echoed Dr. Alex Vadakumthala, Executive Secretary for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India's Commission for Health. "And if an individual follows A and B, then he is cent per cent safe."

"We will speak of A and B but will not promote or propagate the use of condoms as the Church is against all forms of contraceptives," he continued. "But if someone were to come to me for advice, then I would provide him all the information. Ultimately we leave the decision to the couples."

It is for the first time in the country that such a policy is being drafted by the Commission of Health after discussion with dioceses all over the country. The final policy is expected to be ready in April 2005.

The ABC method of HIV prevention has been in the thick of the storm ever since the Bush administration emphasized that abstinence and being faithful to one's partner alone will help keep HIV infection at bay.

Allowing religious sentiments to override scientific reason, the Bush administration feels that promoting condoms is akin to encouraging people to sexual pleasure outside marriage.

For Dr. Vadakumthala too, encouraging condom use is tantamount to approving sex before and outside marriage.

"Which religion promotes sexual promiscuity or sex outside marriage?" he wondered. "So why promote condoms?" Surely, reality and ideology are on a collision course.

However, people like Dr. Vadakumthala, who drive home the point that condoms cannot eliminate all risks, reinforcing the need for abstinence and faithfulness, have not yet been able to give a clear answer about the effectiveness of abstinence.

Studies have found that even in the U.S., teenagers who pledged to stay abstinent until marriage do not remain so. The fallout was that they were less likely to use condoms and hence more likely to get sexually transmitted diseases. Can ignorance be bliss, anymore?

But with the world witnessing a feminization of the pandemic, the church’s refusal to promote use of condoms has become a controversial issue in the northeast region of India, where it has a huge presence and is involved in providing care to HIV positive patients.

Deepak Singh, a HIV positive person working with other patients in Manipur, said according to a recent assessment by a local non–government organization, there are 3,800 AIDS widows in just two districts of Manipur and more than 4,000 children who are infected.

“Most of the women are in the 15 to 24 age group,” he added. Singh, who contracted the disease through infected syringes, said the church’s refusal to promote use of condoms is an issue “we must address.”