Scientist says Pope was right about AIDS

(August 28, 2009) An AIDS prevention expert from the United States has affirmed that Pope Benedict XVI position was right in the debate on AIDS and condoms use. Edward Green, the director of Harvard's AIDS Prevention Research Project made the point in an address at the 30th annual “Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples,” currently in session in Rimini, Italy, sponsored by the lay movement, Communion and Liberation. Green, a researcher and medical anthropologist said that as a scientist he was amazed to see the closeness between what the Pope said last March while on a flight to Cameroon and the results of the most recent scientific discoveries. He affirmed: "The condom does not prevent AIDS. Only responsible sexual behaviour can address the pandemic." When Pope Benedict said that different sexual behaviour should be adopted in Africa, because to put trust in condoms does not serve to fight against AIDS, the international press was scandalized and strong protests were expressed worldwide. The scientist explained the phenomenon of human behaviour called "risk compensation," whereby a person "feels protected and thus exposes himself more." Green highlighted the successful policies that have been implemented in Uganda to battle AIDS - programs based in the "ABC" strategy – viz., "Abstain, Be faithful, and, as a last resource, use a condom."