Philippines Risking AIDS Explosion by Pandering to Catholic Church: Human Rights Watch

The Philippine government risks a "possible explosion" of HIV by catering to the Catholic Church's strict birth control policy, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report warned Tuesday. U.S.-based HRW said that despite the country's low HIV/AIDS rates, failure to promote condom use could result in disaster. The response of the predominately-Catholic Philippines, which is holding presidential elections next week, is inadequate, said report author Jonathan Cohen. The report criticized President Gloria Arroyo for not challenging the Catholic Church's policy of opposing all birth control, and it accused her government of pursuing "anti-condom" policies," a charge the administration denies. According to Cohen, Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit assured him that the government promoted condom use among high-risk groups including prostitutes, homosexuals and overseas Filipino workers. Over the past 20 years, Health Department figures record just 2,009 HIV cases in population of more than 80 million.

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