When I chastised the infamous Road Ranger early this semester for not carrying condoms, the level of negative feedback I received made it quite obvious that much of NIU did not agree.

“Why worry about Road Ranger,” people said, “When we could go somewhere else?”

My point in that argument was as much missed as the struggle for condoms in sub-Saharan Africa is being ignored.

The reality is, America, even DeKalb, contributes to the 42 million people worldwide who are infected with HIV-a number that far surpasses the death toll from the recent tsunami. Just as the refusal of a gas station to sell condoms for personal reasons was an appallingly casual regard to this crisis, (although Road Ranger has now commendably changed their policy) President Bush’s focus in his program against HIV in Africa is equally counterintuitive.

It should be acknowledged that Bush’s $15 billion pledge to help fight this disease is a much needed effort that will be crucial to Africa’s survival. However, his conservative morals have elevated the ideals of abstinence and marital monogamy within the project, far over the push for the use of condoms. Because condoms are already so unpopular in Africa and because it is so difficult to get tested (the cost can be up to 70 percent of a person’s average income) the problem is not marital fidelity, it’s unprotected sex in general. When a woman is married, her chances of her husband wearing a condom are much slimmer. Due to Africa’s extremely high infection rate (26 of the 42 million infected worldwide are in Africa) the chances of a woman being infected by her husband, monogamous or not, are huge. And because many people there do not have the resources to find out if they have HIV, they have children and the children are born with the disease. The problem is so out of control that Nicholas D. Kristof, a New York Times columnist currently in Africa, predicts 85 percent of the 15-year-olds in Zimbabwe eventually will die of AIDS.

“There’s a disdain for condoms in many countries that social marketing might change,” Kristof said in his recent column “When Marriage Kills,” “There’s an African saying ‘Who wants a sweet with the wrapper still on?’”

The answer is, not many. Especially when that “wrapper” is far down on the list of moral responsibilities.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with encouraging abstinence and marital fidelity. Especially in Africa, where prostitution is rampant, these two ideals should be acknowledged. But because this problem is only a small part of a much bigger problem, these might not be the most effective values to preach if it means a far more accurate solution is losing attention.

DeKalb is by all means no Africa, and we should be proud that our community has been able to uphold a relatively small infection rate. But as I have said before, we are all at risk. Sometimes, it’s easier to imagine people getting pregnant than actually getting a disease – and too many people protect themselves with only that in mind. Just as the Bush administration should in Africa, we need to encourage condom use all over the world whenever we can.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.