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AIDS activists urge greater availability of condoms

    JOHANNESBURG

    The South African AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), has called for condoms to be made available in schools and "even at churches and mosques".

    During a recent workshop at the University of Cape Town, TAC director Zackie Achmat said 30 percent of school-going girls in South Africa were living with HIV/AIDS, even as the debate went on about whether or not the availability of condoms promoted sex.

    Research has shown that unprotected casual sex among teens aged 14 to 18 had increased and was fuelling a global HIV/AIDS epidemic among the youth.

    Achmat also lashed out at the Catholic Church, saying it was unacceptable that the church banned the use of condoms and contraception when HIV/AIDS awareness was not just a question of morals.

    Achmat was quoted by the South African Press Association (SAPA) as saying: "There are thousands of orphans on the streets [as a result of the pandemic], but the Catholic Church doesn't look after them."

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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