Safe Sex Week in Jamaica is February 7th to 14th and this gives
a unique opportunity to further reduce the devastating effects
of the disease by using condoms. Some have argued that the latex
used in the manufacture of condoms allows the HIV virus to pass
through and therefore condom use does little to prevent the spread
of AIDS. This has been shown to be untrue and the structure of
latex is far too small to allow the virus to pass through. The condom
has also been shown to be an effective barrier to other diseases
such as Gonorrhoea, Chlamydia and Hepatitis B. The only real
drawback of the condom is incorrect use and this can be easily
remedied by effective sex education.
The population of Jamaica is 2.7 million people, and of these,
the proportion of people carrying the HIV virus is estimated to be
around 47,000 or just under 2%. Almost 60% of females admit to
never carrying a condom. Rudyard Spencer, the Minister of Health
has recently appealed to the female populace to take more
responsibility in both carrying and using condoms to restrict and
prevent the spread of HIV. While men traditionally buy condoms
and rarely rely on their partners to take that responsibility, it is
women who are commonly infected and suffer the deadly consequences.
Women also don't take the responsibility seriously and leave their
men to provide a condom.
The Minister of Health urged sexually active women to carry and
use condoms and to also take the responsibility to purchase them.
Traditionally they have been reluctant to do so, despite their proven
effectiveness in preventing the spread of disease. Various studies
from around the world have shown that 98% - 100% of users who
use condoms correctly, even in high risk groups did not become
infected. Even the World Health Organisation have declared that
condoms are "the best defence" in preventing HIV and AIDS and
this was after an exhaustive study of the various methods available.