‘Duterte’s comment on condoms jeopardizes anti-HIV fight’

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte demonstrated reckless disregard for the health of Filipinos when he suggested to the public to avoid using condoms because they “aren’t pleasurable.”

“During an address to returning overseas migrant workers, mostly women, Duterte instead advised them to use free contraceptive pills, and illustrated his point by putting a wrapped piece of candy in his mouth,” said Carlos Conde, researcher of Human Rights Watch (HRW)-Asia Division.

“For Duterte’s supporters, the comment was just the latest of his humorous asides… But it’s irresponsible for the President to downplay the importance of condoms at a time when the Philippines is experiencing the fastest growing epidemic of HIV in the Asia-Pacific region,” he added.

HRW said condom use is a key factor in reproductive health, but for many years the Catholic Church has sought to restrict access to condoms in the Philippines.

Conde said policies restricting access to condoms are a threat to public health.

“It is at the center of UNAIDS anti-HIV strategy because they are cost-effective tools for preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. Condoms also have an important role in assisting the 81 percent of Filipino women who want to delay or prevent childbearing in helping to reduce the country’s high maternal mortality rate,” he explained.

“International law obligates states to ensure access to condoms and related HIV prevention services as part of the human right to the highest attainable standard of health. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified by the Philippines in 1974, directs governments to take steps necessary  for the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic…diseases, including HIV/AIDS.”

“Instead of criticizing condoms as a pleasure inhibitor, Duterte should take meaningful action to protect the health of Filipinos by backing urgently needed policy changes to expand the accessibility and use of condoms in the Philippines,” he added.

For Gabriela women’s party, Duterte’s recent remarks urging the use of contraceptive pills instead of condoms only shows his anti-women and anti-poor bias.

“Duterte’s insistence on using pills or injectables is an eager act of wresting away from women the right to make scientifically informed decisions on matters concerning their own bodies, their reproductive health and the family planning method most suitable to them – matters that should neither be unjustly anchored on a president’s whim nor dictated by business deals between governments and pharmaceutical companies,” Gabriela secretary-general Joms Salvador said.

But for head of the Commission on Population (PopCom), Duterte’s opinion on condoms should not be a subject of debate.

“The President’s own experience with condoms is the reason for his stated preference and this cannot be subject to debate,” PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III said.

“For the purposes of family planning, the use of specific methods to some extent depends on the preferences of the user, and this may be influenced by one’s experience with the use of condoms, for example,” he explained.

“In family planning, condoms are a temporary method and unlikely to be used as a long-term family planning method,” he added.

But Perez agreed that the use of condom is the preferred method for prevention of sexually transmitted infections. – With Sheila Crisostomo