Africa: Bush’s Trip Highlights Flaws in US HIV/AIDS Policy

[Guest guest]

Africa: Bush's Trip Highlights Flaws in US HIV/AIDS Policy

(New York, February 14, 2008)

President W. Bush's praise for US efforts against HIV/AIDS in

Africa should not obscure how his administration's policies continue

to undermine HIV prevention on the continent and globally, Human

Rights Watch said today.

PEPFAR could be a positive legacy of the Bush administration, but

only if the new legislation does not repeat the mistakes and

limitations of the current program.

During his upcoming trip to Africa, Bush will visit Tanzania and

Rwanda, two target countries of the President's Emergency Plan for

AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Later this month, the House Foreign Affairs

Committee will debate reauthorization of this US$15 billion global

anti-HIV program.

The record of the first PEPFAR program was decidedly mixed, Human

Rights Watch said. The United States has demonstrated global

leadership in scaling up access to HIV treatment, but it undermined

HIV prevention through the adoption of ideologically driven

approaches that emphasized abstinence until marriage and hindered

programs targeting sex workers by requiring organizations to sign a

so-called " prostitution pledge " opposing prostitution.

" The US could be a global leader in the fight against AIDS, " said Joe

Amon, HIV/AIDS Program director at Human Rights Watch. " But if

Congress allows ideological views about sexuality to trump evidence-

based programs and human rights protections, US efforts against

HIV/AIDS in Africa will continue to fall short. "

Congressionally mandated evaluations of PEPFAR programs by the

Institute of Medicine and the US Government Accountability Office

have criticized the rigid abstinence-until-marriage funding

requirement. They have recommended that the funding restriction be

eliminated because it undermines prevention efforts and hampers the

capacity to develop and implement comprehensive prevention programs

that are well-integrated with each other and with HIV testing, care,

and treatment programs.

In Uganda, another PEPFAR target country in Africa, Human Rights

Watch documented the ways in which the US abstinence-only policy

resulted in censored or distorted information about condoms, and

denied young people information about any method of HIV prevention

other than sexual abstinence until marriage .

" PEPFAR could be a positive legacy of the Bush administration " said

Amon. " But only if the new legislation does not repeat the mistakes

and limitations of the current program. "

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/02/14/usint18068.htm

[Guest guest]

Africa: Bush's Trip Highlights Flaws in US HIV/AIDS Policy

(New York, February 14, 2008)

President W. Bush's praise for US efforts against HIV/AIDS in

Africa should not obscure how his administration's policies continue

to undermine HIV prevention on the continent and globally, Human

Rights Watch said today.

PEPFAR could be a positive legacy of the Bush administration, but

only if the new legislation does not repeat the mistakes and

limitations of the current program.

During his upcoming trip to Africa, Bush will visit Tanzania and

Rwanda, two target countries of the President's Emergency Plan for

AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Later this month, the House Foreign Affairs

Committee will debate reauthorization of this US$15 billion global

anti-HIV program.

The record of the first PEPFAR program was decidedly mixed, Human

Rights Watch said. The United States has demonstrated global

leadership in scaling up access to HIV treatment, but it undermined

HIV prevention through the adoption of ideologically driven

approaches that emphasized abstinence until marriage and hindered

programs targeting sex workers by requiring organizations to sign a

so-called " prostitution pledge " opposing prostitution.

" The US could be a global leader in the fight against AIDS, " said Joe

Amon, HIV/AIDS Program director at Human Rights Watch. " But if

Congress allows ideological views about sexuality to trump evidence-

based programs and human rights protections, US efforts against

HIV/AIDS in Africa will continue to fall short. "

Congressionally mandated evaluations of PEPFAR programs by the

Institute of Medicine and the US Government Accountability Office

have criticized the rigid abstinence-until-marriage funding

requirement. They have recommended that the funding restriction be

eliminated because it undermines prevention efforts and hampers the

capacity to develop and implement comprehensive prevention programs

that are well-integrated with each other and with HIV testing, care,

and treatment programs.

In Uganda, another PEPFAR target country in Africa, Human Rights

Watch documented the ways in which the US abstinence-only policy

resulted in censored or distorted information about condoms, and

denied young people information about any method of HIV prevention

other than sexual abstinence until marriage .

" PEPFAR could be a positive legacy of the Bush administration " said

Amon. " But only if the new legislation does not repeat the mistakes

and limitations of the current program. "

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/02/14/usint18068.htm