Scattered thoughts about condoms!
(Note: The author formerly worked as reporter of IBC TV-12 and is now working as a teacher in China.)
HIV/AIDS cases are rising in the Philippines. If we don’t move now it will be a serious problem of the country. Our country is already facing a lot of problems like population explosion, poverty, hunger, corruption, illiteracy, crimes and natural calamity destruction. Let me focus on the use of contraceptives as a tool against HIV/AIDS and population explosion. The church condemns the use of contraceptives, categorizing it as an act of abortion. But ironically 15 years ago, in Cologne Germany the Catholic priests fed the pigeons with contraceptive pills because they are growing in numbers. The priests were annoyed because these cute birds were leave dirt on the Cathedral. Somehow they realized that was against their religious beliefs, somebody had to shoot the birds to protect the church. Now they culture Falcons to shoo away the peace birds. Poor peace birds! How is this story relevant to the issue? Isn’t it the church is against the contraceptives? Well maybe only in the Philippines where 80 percent of the population is Catholic. But using condoms is not an act of killing rather it’s an act of saving one’s self from diseases brought by a natural urge, sex. Some old folks and religious people think it could only promote promiscuity but condoms or no condoms we always have sexual urges. Ask the teenage moms, why they got pregnant at an early age. They would probably answer they can’t control the urge, no condoms available, no money, no proper sex education and the church says promiscuity. As for those who are infected with the sexually transmitted disease and worst of all HIV/AIDS well blame it to sexual urge and condom-free sex.
Using protection could make a big difference, we can avoid unwanted pregnancies. With this, abortion cases would be lessen, lesser number of abandoned babies on the streets and lesser hungry mouths to feed. Most of all, the spread of HIV/AIDS would be lessened. I remember an HIV/AIDS victim I interviewed 4 years ago, he was courageous enough to go out despite the stigma brought about by this disease. He agreed to share his story to educate the people. He was infected through blood transfusion. When he brought me to a house where the other HIV/AIDS patients live I was surprised that there was almost 10 people living in one roof. They have different stories, some of them acquired it from their husbands working abroad, some were raped and some got it through blood transfusion. Thanks to the shelter in Iloilo that saved them from the bad judgments of the society.
How long should we ignore the reality? Should we wait until our country would be like a little Africa? Ooops, I don’t intend to insult Africans. We all know that people in Sub-Saharan Africa are still struggling to combat HIV AIDS for ages but the cases are just growing day by day. Poor little angels there have to bear with their parents’ deadly inheritance. According to AVERT organization, an international AIDS charity, an estimated 22.4 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa is infected with HIV. In 2008 around 1.8 million people died from AIDS and 1.9 million people got infected with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. Their average life expectancy lowered to 47 years. Many children lost a parent, while some are suffering from the deadly infection which their parents passed to them. Condoms are distributed to the different regions in the Sub- Saharan Africa to prevent the spreading of HIV, but due to social, cultural and practical reasons, some people chose not to use them. Studies show that condoms are effective prevention of HIV.
So, my scattered brain says, you have a choice!
