STD Prevention: Behavior Change

Abstinence - Moral Values and Public Duties

From a religious point of view, STDs are spread by sinful behavior, but, like all other sins, it can eventually be forgiven. However, from the standpoint of public health, the behavior, whatever one thinks of it, creates epidemiological facts that have to be dealt with as soon as possible. Protecting public health is therefore a task quite different from that of saving souls. Once health officials are called upon to stop an STD epidemic, it is their duty to be practical and to act quickly. They must face the realities as they are and cannot afford to be judgemental in sexual matters. If they want to succeed, they need the cooperation of all those at risk, and these must be met on their own terms - believers and non-believers, the “chaste” and the “unchaste”. Therefore, in addition to abstinence, the protectors of public health must promote all other prevention methods that might work, in spite of possible personal reservations.

Public Health Policy
Left: Seal of the U.S. Surgeon General. Right (top): The leading epidemiological journal published by the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Right (bottom): An epidemiological internet resource, also originating in the state of Georgia, USA. (Click on logos.)