Survey confirms value of condoms in AIDS prevention

DEPOK, West Java (JP): Religious leaders in Indonesia may abhor the campaign to promote condom usage, but a recent survey in Thailand found that it has effectively cut the rapid spread of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Nicholas J. Ford, a British public health expert, disclosed at a seminar yesterday that consistent use of condoms among 80 percent of men has brought down infection rates of the Human- Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS.

Ford, who conducted a survey of 2,033 young Thai women and men, said the remaining 20 percent of Thai men who do not practice safe sex are a danger as they could spread the virus.

"These men go to low income brothels and infect the new young women entering the sex industry," he said at a discussion on AIDS at the School of Public Health at the University of Indonesia.

Thailand has a current estimated figure of 750,000 people infected with HIV and 24,000 with full-blown AIDS. Ford noted that this is a sharp decrease due to campaigns for safe sex. Reports say that in 1990, four million Thais were infected with HIV.

An Indonesian public health expert who spoke on the Islamic perspective, defended the opposition against any campaign to promote the use of condoms in Indonesia.

"In our heterogeneous society, the campaign to use condoms could be taken as justifying extra-marital sex, and, besides, condoms were not designed to keep out a virus," Hasbullah Thabrani said.

But in view of the rapid and undetected spread of the virus, he said a minor campaign could be conducted targeted towards selected groups, those who are considered to have high risk behavior, and married couples.

"It is all right for non-governmental organizations to conduct this campaign, but encouraging condom usage cannot be voiced by Islamic figures. This is too sensitive," he said.

A better campaign, Thabrani said, would be to stress that adultery is a crime as it leads to the spread of HIV to innocent people. He maintained that the virus spreads mostly due to adultery and homosexual relationships.

A participant, Lies Marcoes of the Association for the Development of Pesantren (traditional Islamic schools) and Society, said the opposition against safe sex campaigns neglects the need for women to protect themselves.

Views that HIV/AIDS can be prevented merely by campaigning against adultery, assumes that relations between men and women are equal, said the association's program coordinator of reproductive rights in Islam.

"Women must be told that Islam gives them the right to protect themselves and they have the right to information of how (to do so)," said Lies. "If there is no other way, a woman has the right to ask her spouse to use a condom, if she suspects him of risky behavior," she said.

Campaigning for religiously sanctioned sexual behavior is also "biased towards the middle class," Lies said.

Among the lower class, divorce, which is allowed in Islam, is widespread and is a "survival strategy," she said.

Various areas in West Java, for instance, are known for high divorce rates in economically difficult times, and high marriage rates around harvest period. (anr)