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The global challenge of HIV/AIDS
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BECAUSE of a paper I had to make recently on HIV/AIDS, I
was shocked to learn the many disturbing data relevant to
this pandemic.
I normally would have a passing interest in this disease.
It's kind of remote to me. Not even acquaintances of my casual
acquaintances have mentioned that they know of someone afflicted
with it. And I believe this attitude is common.
But the global picture is completely different. It is, to
say the least, very depressing, devastatingly so.
Recently the Vatican presented some statistics, which Pope
Benedict described as alarming. It said that as of this year
there are 40.3 million people suffering from the HIV virus,
2.3 million of them under the age of 15.
This year alone, 4.9 million people contracted the virus,
700,000 of whom are younger than 15. Also this year alone,
3.1 million people died of AIDS, 570,000 of them were under
age 15.
These are indeed very ugly figures, indicating to us the
kind of challenge we have. Pope Benedict rightly echoed the
appeal for the "renewed commitment in the work of prevention
and in solidaristic assistance to those who have been stricken."
Compared to this, the SARS, the bird flu, the mad cow, etc.,
are peanuts. The main difficulty is that the epidemic does
not concern another source. Its cause is mainly a certain
lifestyle that unfortunately prevails in many places.
The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care
says the following relevant words:
"The best cure is prevention to avoid infection by HIV/AIDS,
which we should remember is transmitted through the triple
route of blood, transmission from mother to child, and sexual
contact."
While great progress has been achieved in containing the
epidemic that is spread through blood transfusion or from
mother to child, a third pathway of transmission -- through
sexual contact -- remains a big problem.
The Pontifical Council blames the "pansexual culture
that devalues sexuality, reducing it to mere pleasure without
any further meaning."
It says radical prevention in this field must come from a
correct conception and practice of sexuality, where sexual
activity is understood in its deep meaning as a total and
absolute expression of the fertile giving of love.
This approach leads us to the exclusiveness of its exercise
in marriage. Thus, secure prevention in this field lies in
the intensification of the solidity of the family. In other
words, weakening the family contributes to the spread of this
scourge.
What complicates this problem is that some quarters are offering
mere stopgap measures, like the use of condoms, to contain
this epidemic. I say condoms at best can only lessen the risk
in the short run. It can never be conceived to eliminate the
disease.
Worse, the promotion of condoms can build a false sense of
security that will just explode sooner or later, with the
pandemic acquiring even bigger proportions.
The problem is basically moral that sadly has taken deep
cultural roots in many places. It cannot be solved by a mere
piece of rubber or latex. Its solution has to come from man's
inner moral convictions, and these too have to take deep cultural
roots in society.
Certainly, this indispensable moral dimension will involve
the participation of all of us. Thus, this aspect should imbue
all pertinent efforts made by Christian communities, governments,
pharmaceutical industries, scientists and health-care workers,
and the mass media.
We all have to be charitable always in tackling this problem.
No use wasting our time condemning and judging people. Let's
simply get focused on the causes and roots of the problem.
But charity also requires us never to be blind or to be superficial
in our efforts, never to be afraid to call a spade a spade.
And what is simply immoral should be called immoral and should
be made to undergo a moral transformation.
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