Condom versus HIV / AIDS

“Condom versus HIV / AIDS”
I. Stand
We believe that as healthcare workers, we should advocate disease prevention. We may, at some point, go against the belief of our Catholic Church, but we should also be aware of the growing number of people who are acquiring the incurable disease.
We may offer abstinence as an ultimate and the most effective way to prevent AIDS, but most people couldn’t comply with that. This can be proven by the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which puts sex on the basic needs of human.
II. Guide Questions
1) What law in the Philippines declares support over the prevention of HIV /AIDS?
2) Are there any factors that put this country in danger of a broader HIV / AIDS epidemic?
3) What is the nurse’s role in the prevention of HIV / AIDS?
4) Are there any other ways to promote the prevention of HIV / AIDS?
5) Is HIV / AIDS preventable by condom use?
6) Which is lesser evil, the disease or promiscuity?
7) What is more important: lesser case of HIV or being moral?
Are barrier methods enough to prevent AIDS, aside from abstinence?
III. Basis/ Supporting Details
The Philippines may still not feel the outburst of HIV / AIDS, its people should remain prepared for the possibility of an explosive increase in the spread of the disease. Let us not wait for our country to become one like Vietnam and Indonesia who are perfect examples of countries in which there was delayed epidemics of HIV / AIDS.
At present, our government has confronted the problem of HIV / AIDS with an action plan that includes an emphasis on the response of local government units, involvement and support of nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s), incorporation of the disease education in school curriculum, and laws that promulgate the prevention and education as well as supporting affected individuals.
Republic Act No. 8504 of 1998 states that it is the primary responsibility of the government in general not just the DOH and its healthcare workers to bring about awareness through dissemination of information regarding the cause, modes of transmission, prevention and consequences of HIV and AIDS as well as the promotion of all possible ‘prophylactics’ (any agent or device used to prevent the transmission of disease).
HIV prevention needs to reach both people who are at risk of HIV infection and those who are already infected:
• People who do not have HIV need interventions that will enable them to protect themselves from becoming infected.
• People who are already living with HIV need knowledge and support to protect their own health and to ensure that they don’t transmit HIV to others - known as “positive prevention”. Positive prevention has become increasingly important as improvements in treatment have led to a rise in the number of people living with HIV.
Several factors that put the Philippines into grave danger in having a HIV / AIDS epidemic include: 1) increasing population mobility within and outside of the Philippine boundaries; 2) conservative culture, adverse to publicly discussing issues of sexual nature and persistence of stigma and discrimination; 3) increasing number of sex workers, increasing number of people who engage in casual sex and unsafe sex; 4) high STD prevalence and poor health-seeking behaviours; 5) shortcomings in prevention campaigns and its weak integration into local government activities
Anyone can become infected with HIV, and so promoting widespread awareness of HIV through basic HIV and AIDS education is vital for preventing all forms of HIV transmission.
There are a growing number of issues regarding the use of a barrier method as one way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, specifically AIDS, which has no cure. In this view, the Department of Health had come up with a campaign that aims to lessen the risk of Filipino people to this life threatening disease.
However, the Catholic Church strongly disagrees with this movement. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why they said campaign is not that successful.
“I can say our program to prevent HIV-AIDS has failed because the Church is blocking the third component of our program, which is to encourage the use of condoms," Cabral said in an interview on dzXL radio.
The Department of Health had launched a program known by the acronym ABC – where A is for “abstinence from sex", B for “be faithful to your partner" and C for “condom use" to combat HIV-AIDS.
The letter “C”, which is the third option, is the last resort for persons who can’t abstain or be faithful to their respective partners.
The only way to be a 100 % certain in preventing sexual transmission of HIV / AIDS is to avoid sexual contact, but condoms are an effective prevention tool and it does not allow HIV particles / virus to pass through.
In 2007, Catholics for Choice conducted a survey in the Philippines which showed that 77% of Catholics believe in the life-saving effects of condoms and believe using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS is pro-life.
Also, the World Health Organization disclosed that laboratory studies have established the impermeability of the male latex condom to infectious agents contained in genital secretions, including the smallest viruses.
IV. Nurse’s Roles and Responsibility
1) Identifies and targets communities and
individuals mostly at risk
2) Health Education- ABC Approach (Abstinence, Being faithful, and Contraceptive-
male and female condom use; The Four Cs in the Management of HIV/AIDS (Compliance, Counselling, Contact Tracing, Condoms)
V. Recommendation / Suggestion
1) Government Support in conducting more study to test the Phase III HIV Vaccine / RV 144 (vaccine combination of HIV strains in Thailand. An effective response requires strategic planning based on good quality science and surveillance, as well as consideration of local society and culture.
2) Government funding on the health teaching in different health care settings and even tapping into the media through the use of T.V., radio, billboard, Internet ads
3) Regular HIV surveillance activities should be continued and implemented properly to serve as an early warning of increases in HIV prevalence and to guide decision makers in the formulation and prioritization of interventions
4) HIV intervention measures such as behavioral change, communication, treatment of STDs, and condom promotion and social marketing should be an integral part of HIV prevention and control plans.
5) Protecting and promoting human rights should be an essential part of any comprehensive HIV prevention strategy. This includes legislating against the many forms of stigma and discrimination that increase vulnerability.
VI. Sources:

I still believe that abstinence will not just a prevention for hiv/aids but to a lot of diseases. Keeping your body pure till marriage is really idealistic nowadays, but this can be prevented by not using condoms if abstinence can't be done. One should be faithful to his/her partner. Also being aware of this virus can be transmitted would make them educative. This is not transmitted by oral/anal sex but also through the following:

1. Injection or transfusion of contaminated blood or blood products, donations of semen (artificial insemination), skin grafts or organ transplants taken from someone who is infected.
2. From a mother who is infected to her baby; this can occur during pregnancy, at birth and through breastfeeding.
3. Sharing unsterilized injection equipment that has previously been used by someone who is infected.

In addition, this can be part of the curriculum as early as grade 6, where in reproductive changes occurs, as a nurse we have the role to be an advocate to the youth and also to their parents so they guide their children. I still believe that the strong foundation in the family plays a major role in the society.

Is your problem mainly focusing in lessening cases of HIV/AIDS on sexually active individuals by the use of condom? Is transmission often related to sexual activities? HIV is spread by sexual contact with an infected person, by sharing needles and/or syringes (primarily for drug injection) with someone who is infected, or, less commonly (and now very rarely in countries where blood is screened for HIV antibodies), through transfusions of infected blood or blood clotting factors(www.cdc.gov). As stated, there are some other means for acquiring the disease, not just merely engaging to sexual activities.

To ceemendoza: Our group does not propose absolute prevention of HIV/AIDS, but rather lessening the possible reasons for its transmission. We believe that by using a condom, we can eliminate one reason to transfer a disease to another individual.

Thanks kimmy..

Integration of methods to prevent the disease was better. To prevent this wide spread disease, we should not just focused on condoms. Instead, can it be education plus condom plus abstinence? AIDS affects many parts of society, and so everyone needs to be aware of HIV and AIDS. Providing the general population with basic AIDS education contributes to the spread of accurate information; promoting awareness and tackling stigma and discrimination (www.avert.org). If you gave them condom,are they ready enough to prevent getting the disease? Targeting the awareness of an individual, in a manner that will be in the level of their understandings can be a source of motivation to at least do something for preventing the disease.

According to an article, consistent use latex condom reduces HIV incidence by at least 80 percent and perhaps as much as 97 percent. Most HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or unplanned pregnancies likely occur because of condom non-use or inconsistent use.

So the challenge is to increase the consistency of male condom use during risky sexual contacts. As a health care provider, how can you motivate people to use condom during risky sexual contacts? Is health education enough to encourage men to use condoms?

(http://www.fhi.org/en/RH/FAQs/contraHIV_faq.htm)

After reading your stand, I have noticed that your position was not clearly stated.

Given all the facts above, my question is, Are Filipinos ready for this change? (spiritually and physical), Nearly 90 percent of the Philippines' 92 million people are Catholic and the Church's influence throughout society is extremely strong (ILGA, 2009). We are living in Christian country where artificial contraceptions are being condemned by the church. Also, do we have enough physical resources to sustain this program, in what extent? where are you going to get the fund, are we economically competent? since Philippines is still encountering food security problem.

I appreciate your concern over this matter other groups, really. Thank you for your suggestions / opinions. In response to the other groups who commented and reacted on our paper, I would like to respond.

We are aware that there are other modes of transmission of the disease. However, we would like to emphasize that the key to prevention is through awareness, and awareness is established through the use of health education and through other methods such as condom use and even abstinence. The Filipino people will be much better equipped with this ‘armour’ against HIV / AIDS rather than not doing anything at all.

It is not enough that we just educate people; we must also administer change of their ideas, behaviour, and stigma regarding HIV / AIDS. The promotion of condom against HIV /AIDS is a perfect example of liberation and education at the same time.

Even if we are mostly Catholic and conservative people, we still have to be ‘open’ to the idea of sex. Sex is undeniably the reality of life. Sex is, like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states, a basic need. And it is not just a need because people need to promulgate / multiply, rather, it is also becoming a sexual competition (in the world today).

There is no denying that it is a part of life of people. Let us not forget that sex workers are rampant here, people migrating in and out of the Philippines may be carriers, the maritime / sea workers admit that a large percentage of them engage in sex with multiple sexual partners, the call center ‘casual sex’, the Western influence to Filipino youth that sex is casual; all these things are part of the Filipinos, whether we admit them or not.

We cannot deny the fact that there is never the right time but now! Change is the only permanent thing in the world and the only way to deal with these major changes in lifestyle is to also bring about changes in our methods of health teaching. We must admit the fact that condom use is not the real enemy of the state here. It is HIV / AIDS. And how else can we battle HIV / AIDS if we do not have open minds and attitude?

As health care workers, our main duties and responsibilities is to address the main problem faced by the Filipinos: Deficient knowledge and behavioural problems. We, as nurses, deal with these through health education, with some help from the DOH in advertising it through the use of media and technology. It is not our scope of responsibility but the government’s to actually give attention and prioritization over the health care’s budget. In any way that we see it, even third world countries like ours get billions and billions of monetary budgets through a lot of ways. Income tax, land and property tax, etc. are just few.

To cpenuliar: The effectiveness of condom use in preventing the transmission of the disease is strong enough to attest that men will be encouraged to use it in every sexual encounter that they will take.

To maezz: The Department of Health is now making steps on helping the Filipino men and women to be informed and equipped against sexual diseases transmission. In fact there was a summit that was held recently to gather different government organizations in tackling up the rising cases of AIDS here in our country. According to DOH, “Health Secretary Cabral stressed that the Summit shall be a venue in providing information to stakeholders and leaders on the status of the HIV epidemic in the country, current national responses and the agenda for more intensified interventions. It will also serve as a venue to build and strengthen collaborations amongst key players in the national response and to meaningfully engage other players in the realization of harmonized, collaborative and scaled-up initiatives addressing the challenges of HIV and AIDS in the country. Towards the end of the program, the Summit envisions an alliance: partnerships renewed and new partnerships established.”
As for the budget, condom supply, I believe, should not solely be carried by the government. More than anyone else, each individual must be responsible enough to protect himself. Condoms are now sold at cheaper prices.
Readiness of the Filipinos? Is that question still applies to our new generation? We are all aware that it has been widely used by most sexually active Filipino nowadays. Although that issue is not being totally addressed here in our country due to our Catholic population and conservative society, it is also a fact that many people are engaged into it.
We are not totally opposing the stand of the Catholic church, what we are trying to implore is that we want to help people avoid the possible infection that can be transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse.

I agree with the use of condom for as it reduces transmission for a certain degree, however I completely disagree to abstinence for sexuality is one of the dimension of human being therefore you cannot just prohibit sex, besides almost all sources of information provides either skin, seduction, or sex, but having a single sexual partner will further decrease the chance of spreading the disease.

Thank you for the comments of the other groups, I would like to add.

Although there are other ways of contracting the virus, our group decided to give emphasis on the major mode of transmission which is sexual. According to Dr. Ofelia Monzon, who pioneered the first medical investigative studies of HIV and AIDS in the Philippines through the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang, Muntinlupa, modifying or controlling sexual behavior is most difficult as seen in cigarette smoking where knowledge has not resulted in cessation of smoking habit. So if we cannot modify such act, as health care providers we are equipped with knowledge to prevent or lessen the transmission of such infection by aggressive intervention-condom dissemination. Furthermore, prevention is better than cure.

With regards to the funds, in the article written by Jerry Esplanda of PDI, she quoted Cabral saying “the Philippines is under the program of Global Fund for the Control of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which provides fund from philanthropists such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates. This fund amounted to $215 million; $85million for AIDS is spread through the years for purchase of prophylactics such as condoms. Because our national government accepted the funds, we are actually committed to this thing.

To ms. Heide
Will you please post the program of Global Fund for control of AIDS?
for better clarification of your post.
Thank you