Dr Edward Green mot väggen

Läs BBC intervjun med kontroversielle dr Edward Green

William Crawley: You can see why some people perhaps misunderstand your position, Dr Green, because you make a blunt statement like ”the Pope is right about this” and ”he is right on the science”. And it is a much more complicated story once we explore it a little bit. You are encouraging the use of condoms in Africa. You are just saying: in addition to that, we should take seriously abstinence and, particularly, ”be faithful” (monogamy) programmes, as well in Africa. That’s a very different position to the one that the Pope holds to.

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William Crawley: But condoms are either making the problem worse in Africa, or they are a backup strategy, which is it?

Edward Green:Well, I would say that they should, again, be made available. They should be available as a backup strategy. It’s obviously better to not indulge in a risk behaviour … Lets go back to what we know about condoms: when they are used consistently, when they are used consistently, they provide, under more or less ideal conditions, about 80 to 85 per cent risk reduction, compared to those who don’t use them at all. But how many–what percentage of any large national population–uses condoms consistently? Probably nowhere in excess of 5 per cent.

William Crawley: There does seem to be a world of a difference, Dr Green, between what you have just said, and the Pope’s simple claim that condoms are aggravating the problem in Africa. Those two positions do not seem to be the same, and yet you say you agree with the Pope.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/03/aids_expert_who_defended_the_p.html

// Irène