Epidemiologist: Pope Is Right About Condoms

René Ecochard, director of the biostatistics department at Lyon's University Hospital Center, explained that there is "a lack of realism" on the condom issue, which he called a "prisoner of ideology." Pope Benedict XVI said en route to Africa on March 17 that the "problem of AIDS cannot be overcome merely with money, necessary though it is. If there is no human dimension, if Africans do not help [by responsible behavior], the problem cannot be overcome by the distribution of prophylactics: on the contrary, they increase it." The doctor explained: "People thought that the Pope was speaking of the efficacy of the plastic, the condom, when in reality he was speaking of the campaigns to spread the condom. This is very different. All epidemiologists agree today that the campaigns to distribute [condoms] in countries where the proportion of affected people is very high, do not work." Zenit