Member of The United Nations Population Fund hope the new pope will reconsider the Catholic Church's current stance on contraception in order to prevent the spread of AIDS. Throughout the 26 years that Pope John Paul II held the thrown over the Catholic Church, Western health campaigners often criticized him for his views on contraceptives - believed to be the most preventive measure to the spread of AIDS, not counting abstinence. Pope John Paul II, while a strong supporter of human rights and social justice, condemned contraception as a means of fighting the AIDS epidemic. He offered an alternative: abstinence and marital fidelity in the face of opposition from liberal Catholics. The U.N. Population Fund is the biggest international source of funds for programs to avoid sexually-transmitted infection, improve health care in pregnancy and child birth, and help with family planning and unwanted pregnancies in developing nations. The Fund's director, Thoraya Obaid, is hopeful that the new pope will consider the recent developments in contraception and its effect on the prevention of the deadly HIV virus. "There has been a beginning of an opening, especially on HIV/AIDS and the use of condoms for prevention of infection. We are hoping the new pope will take this message further, because it makes no sense sending people to their death."