New Delhi: After his purported remarks suggesting that promoting condom use in Aids campaigns is seen as encouraging illicit sexual relationships, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said that his comments were “distorted” and “condoms promise safe sex, but the safest sex is through faithfulness”.
The minister, who is currently in the US to participate in an international meet on preventing child and maternal death, also maintained that for the past two decades he has been “stressing the need for safe sex using a combination of condoms and a discipline which is in line with the Abstinence-Be Faithful-Condom (ABC) line of UNAIDS”.
He said that government campaigns should focus on “safe sex as a holistic concept which includes highlighting the role of fidelity”.
Dr Vardhan was quoted as saying that focusing on the use of condoms in Aids campaigns sends the wrong message that “you can have any kind of illicit sexual relationship as long as you’re using a condom”.
The minister had reportedly said he would like to see that change, with more emphasis on “promoting the integrity of the sexual relationship between husband and wife, which is a part of our culture”.
“An impression is sought to be created that I have misgivings about the efficacy of condoms or that I have a moral problem with condoms. This is apart from the fact because for the past two decades I have been stressing the need for safe sex using a combination of condoms and discipline,” he wrote on Facebook.
Disappointed over the way sections of the media have distorted my statements about safe sex in an interview to New York Times on June 24.
— Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 25, 2014Please read my detailed statement on this matter. https://t.co/XmaSOrsdww
— Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 25, 2014
