African leader opposes Catholic hierarchy on condoms. (The Church and HIV/AIDS).Church leaders in Zambia have rejected the advice of Zambia's first president, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda Noun 1. Kenneth Kaunda - statesman who led Northern Rhodesia to full independence as Zambia in 1964 and served as Zambia's first president (1924-1999) Kaunda, Kenneth David Kaunda , who urged Zambians to use condoms to avoid infection with the HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome virus. In an interview, Kaunda called for widespread use of condoms and said, "I have declared a war [on AIDS] and at 78-years-old, I am its strongest and fiercest enemy. I will look AIDS in the face and say, "I will fight you with every ounce of energy." I am like a mad man because I see the devastation. I want to stop this scourge before it annihilates mankind." He continued, "I would advise our church leaders to reconsider the stand on the use of condoms." The response from the Catholic hierarchy has been described as "acerbic" with the "milder attacks" accusing Kaunda's campaign of being "misdirected." In response, Kaunda, a Catholic who lost his fifth son to AIDS, said, "The church is the one that is misdirected. They have misunderstood mis·un·der·stood v. Past tense and past participle of misunderstand. adj. 1. Incorrectly understood or interpreted. 2. my message. What I am saying is, control your sexual temper and behave yourself. [But] since we can neither monitor or control people's urges, let them use a condom 1. condom - The protective plastic bag that accompanies 3.5-inch microfloppy diskettes. Rarely, also used of (paper) disk envelopes. Unlike the write protect tab, the condom (when left on) not only impedes the practice of SEX but has also been shown to have a high failure ." He continued by calling for the church to be at the forefront of the anti-AIDS campaign. "If they do not want to talk about condoms and sex in their churches I will do it for them.... The clergy perhaps are not happy, but the congregation are very receptive receptive /re·cep·tive/ (re-cep´tiv) capable of receiving or of responding to a stimulus. ." Zambia has one of the highest HIV/ AIDS infection rates in the world, with rates as high as ten percent in urban areas. [Africa News, "Zambia: Corporate Activists Promoting Condoms As Panacea Some antidote or remedy that completely solves a problem. Most so-called panaceas in this industry, if they survive at all, wind up sitting alongside and working with the products they were supposed to replace. to HIV/Aids," May 29, 2002.] |
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