LUSAKA, Zambia, JAN. 11, 2001 (ZENIT.org).- Zambian officials have cancelled an anti-AIDS campaign after various church groups found them offensive. The ads showed how to use a condom, according to Reuters.
One in five Zambian adults is infected by the HIV/AIDS virus, which has become the biggest challenge to development in this African nation.
The Catholic Church and the Christian Council of Zambia objected to the ads because they were in bad taste and appeared to condone extramarital sex as long as a condom is used. In one ad, teenage girls talk frankly about sex and condoms, while another showed how to use a condom. The ads were targetted at prime time, when parents and children typically watch television together.
Based on the criticism of the churches, the Minister of Health, Enoch Kavindele, decided to pull the campaign, though he says it will be continued after the ads have been closely reviewed and offensive material edited out, according to the BBC. Reuters speculated that the Central Board of Health had pulled the ads had taken the decision to remove the ads and that they would later explain their decision to Kavindele, who was previously very supportive of the campaign.
