Catholic Teaching on Life and the Challenge of the HIV/AIDS Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa

A detailed example of this study can be obtained in the report of the Malawi Ministry of Health and Population, Malawi Fourth National Health Plan: 1999-2004, (May, 1999).

This development has been brought forth by advancements and affordability of medical treatments for AIDS. For example, see Daniel Gentry, Toni E. Forgarty and Susan Lehrman, “Providing Long-Term Care for Persons with AIDS,” AIDS Patients Care, (June, 1994), p. 130.

For example see (Malawi) Ministry of Health and Population, To the Year 2020: A Vision for the Health Sector in Malawi, (May, 1999), pp. 18–21.

Kevin W. Wildes, “Conserving Life and Conserving Means: Lead Us Not Into Temptation,” Critical Choices and Critical Care: Catholic Perspectives on Allocating Resources in Intensive Care Medicine, Kevin W. Wildes, ed., (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1995), pp. 105-18. In a different article, the same author attributes the development “on the extent of one's obligation to preserve life” to the impact of medical advances during the Renaissance period during which lasting medical breakthrough was reached. See, Wildes Kevin W. , “Ordinary and Extraordinary Means and Quality of Life,” Theological Studies 57, (1996), p. 501.

de Vitoria Francisco Religiones Theologiae (Lugdini, 1587) as translated in Daniel A. Cronin, “Moral Law in Regard to the Ordinary and Extraordinary Means of Conserving Life,” Conserving Human Life, Russell E. Smith, ed., (Braintree, MA: Pope John Center, 1989) p. 35.

de Vitoria Francisco Religiones Theologiae Theologiae (Lugdini, 1587) as translated in Daniel A. Cronin, “Moral Law in Regard to the Ordinary and Extraordinary Means of Conserving Life,” Conserving Human Life, Russell E. Smith, ed., (Braintree, MA: Pope John Center, 1989) p. 35.

de Vitoria Francisco Religiones Theologiae, Relectio IX, de Temperantia, n. 12 (translated in Cronin, Conserving Human Life, p. 36; and Francisco de Vitoria, Commentarios a la Secunda Secunda de Santo Thomas, (Salamanca, ed. de Heredia, 1952), II: II, q. 147, a. 1., translated in Daniel A. Cronin, Conserving Human Life, p. 37.

Banez Domingo Scholastica Commentaria in Partem Doctoris S. Thomae (Duaci, 1614-1615). Tom. IV, Decisiones de Jure et Justitia, II: II, q. 65, a. 1., translated as in Daniel A. Cronin, Conserving Human Life, pp. 29-31.

Banez Domingo Scholastica Commentaria in Partem Doctoris S. Thomae (Duaci, 1614-1615), Tom. IV, Decisiones de Jure et Justitia, II: II, q. 65, a. 1., translated as in Daniel A. Cronin, Conserving Human Life. p. 42.

For examples of the critique of ordinary and extraordinary medical procedures see President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment, (Washington, D.C.: Government Print Office, March 1983), pp. 82–90. Also, Tom. L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics (5th edition), (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 123-125.

de Lugo John Disputationes Scholaticae et Morales (Nova, Parisiis, Vives, ed.) vol. VI, De lustitita et lure, Disp. X, sec. 1, n. 30, translated as in Daniel A. Cronin, Conserving Human Life, p. 54.

de Lugo John Disputationes Scholaticae et Morales (Nova, Parisiis, Vives, ed.) vol. VI, De lustitita et lure, Disp. X, sec. 1, n. 30, translated as in Daniel A. Cronin, Conserving Human Life, p. 54.

Atkinson Gary M. “Theological History of Catholic Teaching on Prolonging Life,” Moral Responsibility in Prolonging Life Decisions, McCarthy Donald G. , and Moraczewski Albert S. , eds., (St. Louis: Pope John Center, 1981), pp. 95–115. See also Daniel A. Cronin, “Moral Law in Regard to the Ordinary and Extraordinary Means of Conserving Life,” Conserving Human Life, p. 55.

de Lugo John Disputationes Scholaticae et Morales (Nova, Parisiis, Vives, ed.) vol. VI, De lustitita et lure, Disp. X, sec. 1, n. 36, translated as in Daniel A. Cronin, Conserving Human Life, p. 55.

Gerald Kelly, “The Duty of Using Artificial Means of Preserving Life,” Theological Studies (11 June 1950), pp. 203-220. See also, Kelly Gerald , “The Duty to Preserve Life,” Theological Studies (12 December 1951), pp. 550–556.

Kelly Gerald “The Duty to Preserve Life,” Theological Studies (11 June 1950), p. 204.

Pius XII, “The Prolongation of Life” in Critical Choices and Critical Care, p. 192.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Declaration on Euthanasia”, Quality of Life, p. 263.

For a thorough discussion on this see Daniel Cronin, “The Duty to Conserve One's Life,” Conserving Human Life, pp. 3–20.

Griese Orvil N. Catholic identity in Health Care, Principles and Practice (Braintree, MA, 1987), p. 179.

Kelly Gerald Medico-Moral Problems, (Dublin: Clonmore and Reynolds, 1960), 129.

Kelly Gerald “The Duty to Preserve Life,” Theological Studies (12 December 1951), pp. 550–551.

See generally, Gerald Kelly, “The Duty to Preserve Life,” Theological Studies (12 December 1951), pp. 550ff; “The Duty of Using Artificial Means of Preserving Life,” Theological Studies (11 June 1950), pp. 203 ff.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia, Quality of Life, p. 263.

Peschke Carl H. Christian Ethics: Moral Theology in the Light of Vatican II, (New Delhi: Indira Printers, 1993), p. 261.

L.J. Schneiderman and N. Jecker, “Futility in Practice: in Archives of Internal Medicine (153), (1993), pp. 437-441 referenced by Smith George P. II , ”Restructuring the Principle of Medical Futility,” in Journal of Palliative Care (11: 3), (1995), p. 9.

Smith George P. II “Restructuring the Principle of Medical Futility,” in Journal of Palliative Care (11: 3), (1995), p. 9.

American Thoracic Society, “Withholding and Withdrawing Life Sustaining Therapy,” Annals of Internal Medicine 115, (1991), pp. 726–731 (p. 728).

Council of Ethical, and Judicial Affairs, American Medical Association, “Guidelines for the Appropriate Use of Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders,” JAMA 265, (1991), pp. 1868–1871 (p. 1871).

Schneiderman Lawrence J. , Jecker Nancy S. , and Jonsen Albert R. “Medical Futility: Its Meaning and Ethical Implications,” Annals of Internal Medicine 112, (1990), p. 951.

Beauchamp Tom L. , and Childress James F. Principles of Biomedical Ethics (5th edition), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 134

Beauchamp Tom L. , and Childress James F. Principles of Biomedical Ethics (5th edition), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 135.

Beauchamp Tom L. , and Childress James F. Principles of Biomedical Ethics (5th edition), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 135–139.

L.J. Schneiderman and N. Jecker, “Futility in Practice: in Archives of Internal Medicine (153), (1993), pp. 437-441 referenced by Smith George P. II , ”Restructuring the Principle of Medical Futility,” in Journal of Palliative Care (11: 3), (1995), p. 10.

Jecker See N.S. , and Schneiderman L.J. “The Duty Not to Treat,” in Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (2) (1993), pp. 151–159.

United Nations Economic Commission For Africa, Transforming Africa's Economies: Economic Report of Africa 2000, p. 20.

Forum Global Policy “Burden of Hope: Africa in the 1990s,” New Internationalist, http://oneworld.org/ni/issue208/facts.htm (visited November 18, 2001).

Watkins Thayer “Economic Conditions in Africa,” excerpts from Time, September 7, 1992, “The Agony of Africa: The Struggle for Existence,” http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/africa.htm (visited November 18, 2001).

United Nations Economic Commission For Africa, Transforming Africa's Economies: Economic Report of Africa 2000, p. 2.

United Nations Economic Commission For Africa, Transforming Africa's Economies: Economic Report of Africa 2000, p. 28.

Global Policy Forum, “Burden of Hope: Africa in the 1990s,” New Internationalist, http://oneworld.org/ni/issue208/facts.htm (visited November 18, 2001).

Global Policy Forum, “Burden of Hope: Africa in the 1990s,” New Internationalist, http://oneworld.org/ni/issue208/facts.htm (visited November 18, 2001).

Development Cooperation News, “Facts on Africa,” http://www.dse.de/aktuel/factse.htm (visited November 18, 2001).

United Nations Economic Commission For Africa, Transforming Africa's Economies: Economic Report of Africa 2000, p. 28.

UNAIDS/WHO Press Release, “One Million More Living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, New Report Reveals,” http://www.africapolicy.org (visited November 18, 2001.

United Nations Economic Commission For Africa, Transforming Africa's Economies: Economic Report of Africa 2000, p. 28.

Development Cooperation News, “Facts on Africa,” http://www.dse.de/aktuel/factse.htm (visited November 18, 2001).

United Nations Economic Commission For Africa, Transforming Africa's Economies: Economic Report of Africa 2000, p. 29.

United Nations Economic Commission For Africa, Transforming Africa's Economies: Economic Report of Africa 2000, p. 29.

Stolberg Sheryl Gay “Africa's AIDS War: Pressure for Affordable Medicine, ‘If’ Becomes ‘When’ for Patients,” New York Times, V. CL, No. 51, 688, Saturday, March 10, 2001, p. A1.

Stolberg Sheryl Gay “Africa's AIDS War: Pressure for Affordable Medicine, ‘If’ Becomes ‘When’ for Patients,” New York Times, V. CL, No. 51, 688, Saturday, March 10, 2001, p. A1.

See McNeil Donald G. Jr. “Indian Company Offers to Supply AIDS Drugs at Low Cost in Africa,” New York Times, Feb. 7, 2001, p. A1 and A10.

Philipson Thomas J. , and Posner Richard A. Private Choices and Public Health: The AIDS Epidemic in an Economic Perspective (London: Harvard University Press, 1993), p. 19. Also, Richard A. Kaslow and Donald P. Francis, eds., “Epidemiology: General Considerations,” Epidemiology of AIDS: Expression, Occurrence, and Control of Human Immunodeficiency (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 19 ff.

See Holme Molly “The Challenge of HIV Drug Resistance,” Harvard AIDS Review, Winter/Spring 2001, p. 13.

A Pastoral Letter by the Catholic Bishops of Malawi, Celebrating the Centenary, March 25, 2001, No. 29. In this letter the bishops address the issue of AIDS as exclusively a moral issue. They argue that AIDS can only be prevented by abstinence from sex by unmarried couples and that condoms are not an effective means of preventing infection. There was no discussion regarding the dilemma facing infected married couples. Further, no pastoral guidance was provided on the conflict facing families, communities and governments regarding provision of HIV/AIDS treatment at the cost of being able to meet the needs of the greater community.