Bulletin

Issue: August 2004

News

HIV prevention Religion needs a radical shift

Only a radical shift by govern-ments and organised religion - and a willingness to accept that safeguarding life is more important than preserving antiquated moral precepts - will bring the resources and the messages about safer sex to those who are most vulnerable.

Moves to remove the criminal sanctions against, and persecution of, homosexuals and sex workers are crucial to achieving the goals of slowing HIV infection.

These were among the points made about the increasing global pandemic of HIV/AIDS by Dennis Altman, La Trobe University Professor of Politics, when delivering the Jonathan Mann Memorial Lecture at the Intemat AIDS Conference in Bangkok in July.

Professor Altman, who is also President of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific, said the greatest tragedy of HIV/AIDS was that we know how to stop its spread, and yet in most parts of the world we are failing to do so.

Addressing a plenary session of the conference attended by 15,000 delegates from many countries, Professor Altman said the literature tended to emphasise immediate problems - lack of condoms or clean needles, safe sex fatigue, and unwillingness to interfere with the immediate gratification of sex or drugs.

'There is less emphasis on the political barriers that are accelerating the epidemic - the deliberate neglect by governments, the unwillingness to speak openly of HIV and its risks, the hypocrisy with which simple measures of prevention are forestalled in the name of culture, religion and tradition,' he said.

In most countries there are ongoing restrictions on the discussion and promotion of condoms, on sex education in schools, and on recognition that homo-sexuality and sex for money are realities in every complex human society.

He described examples of political interference that have hampered sensible HIV prevention programs. 'Too many governments have applied sanctions, punishment and repression, ignoring the reality that humans will seek both pleasure and survival in ways that often confront the traditional norms to which social, religious and political leaders pay lip service.

'Often the most significant structural interventions possible are those that remove barriers to honest discussion of human behaviour. If the choice is between maintaining the demands of ancient religious superstitions - and with them the power of male clergy - and providing the information and the resources to protect young women and men from infection with a potentially lethal and painful virus, can anyone who believes in a just God, or a system of ethical standards, seriously doubt the answer?'

Professor Altman said not nearly enough attention was paid to analysing the barriers that religion, politics and human hypocrisy erect against effective programs of HIV prevention. In the end, the great issues that demand research and action are political questions, in that they involve issues of power, control and ideology.

'As the epidemic grows we have many reasons to be angry, particularly at the hypocrisies of most governments and most religious leaders. Indeed, we are so unwilling to confront these issues that we fall back on platitudes about 'communities of faith', ignoring the ways in which fundamentalists of all faiths perpetuate the gender and sexual inequalities that fuel the epidemic.

'We constantly hear rhetoric about leadership, rather than analysing what it is we want leaders to do. But anger that is not supported by analysis, and that does not lead to action, is wasted and self-indulgent. As the world becomes more dangerous and uncertain, and political attention is increasingly focused on war and terror, how we respond to the challenge of halting the spread of HIV is a central test of human decency and human solidarity.'

back to top

back contents next