In conjunction with World AIDS Day 2001, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) launched a new public education campaign, Condoms4Life, to urge Catholic bishops to end their ban on the use of condoms. According to CFFC, the Catholic hierarchy lobbies governments worldwide as well as the United Nations to severely limit the availability and accessibility of condoms, even in countries with high rates of HIV transmission and AIDS, such as South Africa. The Condoms4Life literature also stresses that Catholic bishops may be spreading false information about condoms. In South Africa and Mexico, for example, Catholic bishops have erroneously asserted that condoms may be responsible for the spread of HIV. This type of misinformation is especially harmful given the lack of HIV/AIDS education in the developing world. Globally, according to the United Nations, 37.6 million people are living with HIV/AIDS and of this number 47 percent are women. 3.3 million people have died of AIDS in 2001, and 5 million new people became infected with HIV. Forty-two percent of all new cases of infection in 2001 were women.
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