Lusaka (Fides Service) - With 12 million AIDS orphans and more than 25 million HIV positive Sub-Saharan Africa is the continent worst hit by AIDS. By 2010 it is estimated that 43 million Africans will have contracted the HIV/AIDS. To address the problem the Catholic Bishops of Zambia issued a Pastoral Letter in which they underline that AIDS is fundamentally a problem of behaviour. "The HIV/AIDS pandemic is not merely a medical or health problem. It is also fundamentally a behavioural problem. We should not only treat the symptoms; we should endeavour to remove the causes. The greatest factor in the reduction of HIV/AIDS infection in Uganda and Senegal was the process of Behaviour Change in attitudes, lifestyle and practice. It is the youth above all who have changed in behaviour in those countries. Youths have postponed sexual activity until marriage. In Senegal the age of marriage has been increased. While in Uganda the programme of "Youth Alive" and "Education for Life", a process of behavioural change, have contributed in no small way to reducing infection. A most recent report of the Population Division of the U.N.'s Department for Economic and Social Affairs admits that the mass distribution of condoms, though aggressively promoted by governments, was failing to provide a solution to the African AIDS pandemic. Its findings revealed that the only real major change was a shift toward monogamy. It also noted the most frequently cited change, had entailed confining sexual activity to one partner. Africa has spoken. It has begun to accept that the best way forward is abstinence before marriage and fidelity to one's spouse. The biblical teaching of chastity or purity is still the best way of eradicating HIV/AIDS completely. No one dies of abstinence " or "purity ". Abstinence does not kill and does not cost money. Risky sex behaviour, with or without the condom, certainly kills sooner or later. As Church we call for healthy and responsible behaviour for all." See pastoral letter of Bishops of Zambia >> (Fides Service 17/1/2003)