CRS says info on condoms in HIV programs must be 'complete, accurate'

Published: 2008-02-11

HUNTINGTON, Ind. (CNS) -- Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' overseas aid and development agency, is requiring its foreign partners to give "complete and accurate" information on condoms in all HIV/AIDS programs. "CRS wants to ensure that partners are not giving inaccurate, misleading or no information at all on condoms -- and that the focus and priority remain on abstinence and fidelity," according to a new internal policy document sent to CRS country representatives. The document warned the agency may cut funding from partners who refuse to comply. Top CRS officials told Our Sunday Visitor, a national Catholic newspaper based in Huntington, that the provision would be used only as a "last resort." The agency's newly formulated HIV policy, obtained by Our Sunday Visitor, is laid out in a six-page position paper dated December 2007, with the heading "CRS' Position on the Prevention of Sexual Transmission of AIDS." It was accompanied by a one-page Jan. 11 memorandum to CRS country representatives from Jennifer Overton, the agency's senior technical adviser for HIV who prepared the position paper.

Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .