HIV being spread mainly through homosexual relations in Spain

Madrid, Spain, Jan 6, 2009 / 10:10 am

The Anti-AIDS Independent Committee in Spain has called for behavioral changes among homosexuals in order to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS, as 2007 data confirms that the disease is more prevalent in the homosexual population.

The organization pointed out that although ten of Spain’s autonomous communities do not send statistics on infections to the National AIDS Registry, the data “shows that homosexual transmission made up 42.8% of the diagnoses made in 2007, with a constant rise from 26.4% in 2003.  The increase is even sharper if women are excluded: gays have gone from 34.7% to 55.6% of the men diagnosed in one year.”

“Thus, in 2007, for the first time since 1994, there were more infections through homosexual activity than heterosexual,” it said.

The organization criticized government campaigns that promote condom use, “with a message aimed indiscriminately at the population in general and young people in particular, as if everyone were equally at risk, regardless of their habits.”  Such a message only provokes a “false sense of security” and does not reduce at-risk behavior, they said.

Likewise, the organization pointed out that homosexuals have the lowest rate of late diagnosis, at 26.7%, and that the “disproportionately high rate of infections can only be explained by much higher promiscuity and a higher risk of homosexual contact.”

Therefore, the group said, if the risk of contraction is high “and the promotion of condom use does not work, it would be logical to consider a different campaign that encourages a change in behavior in homosexuals.  But that would be the most politically incorrect option of all.”