According to
a new report by the federal General Accounting Office,
requirements that two thirds of U.S. money used to promote
HIV prevention overseas go to abstinence programs are
ineffective and are actually forcing some countries to
scale back other prevention efforts that are proved to
work. The GAO report says that to comply with the U.S. push
for abstinence education, countries receiving money
through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief have had to make cuts to HIV prevention
programs that target youth, sex workers, couples in which
one partner is HIV-positive and the other
HIV-negative, and even mother-to-child prevention
services.
The GAO surveyed
17 countries that receive U.S. AIDS money and found that
in 10 of them mother-to-child transmission programs were
affected by the abstinence requirement; all 10
requested and received exemptions from the U.S.
requirement. The seven other countries also reported that
their mother-to-child prevention programs were
impacted, but they did not quality for exemptions and
were forced to continue to spend two thirds of the
U.S. prevention grants on education programs for abstinence
and monogamy.
The report also
showed that in eight of the countries, the U.S.
requirement for abstinence education hindered condom
programs already in place.
"This report
confirms what we have been saying all along," Paul
Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, said
in a statement. "There has been deep concern with this
policy, from the European Union, United Nations
officials, African experts, religious organizations,
and others, and it has been fully justified. Lives are in
the balance, and so we need Congress to step in quickly to
fix this policy.
"Messages
promoting abstinence and fidelity have a place in a
comprehensive strategy, and condoms are not the only
solution to AIDS," Zeitz adds. "But the U.S. approach
is far from the 'balanced, effective' policy we were
promised by President Bush." (The Advocate)