Clarifying HIV Prevention

To the editors:

In the recent article written about me in The Crimson (“The Politics of Condoms,” column, April 16), the impression was given that the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies decided to end the AIDS Prevention Research Project, of which I am director, in response to my recent, controversial comments which questioned condoms as the panacea for AIDS in Africa. That is not the case. Our project is not being continued, but it has been extended beyond its original end-date on a no-cost extension basis.

Also, I should point out that the statement, “Increased availability of condoms has not led to a substantial increase in their use, as such devices carry the social stigma of a lack of trust,” should refer to consistent usage, not to all condom usage. This is an important point—condom use in fact has increased substantially in many places, but unfortunately this has not translated into consistent usage, which remains quite low, or into lower HIV infection rates in Africa’s population-wide epidemics.

EDWARD C. GREEN
Cambridge, Mass.
April 20, 2009