GAO: Bush Global AIDS Strategy Undermine Effective HIV Prevention Efforts

[im10ashus]

TAKOMA PARK, Md., April 4 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released a long-awaited report analyzing the effects of the abstinence-until-marriage earmark in the U.S. Global Leadership on HIV, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, also known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. In theory, the law supports a comprehensive approach often described as ABC or Abstain, Be Faithful, Use Condoms, and argues that prevention programs should be designed to meet local needs and realities. In practice, the law requires that, as of FY 2006, at least 33 percent of prevention funding be set aside for so-called "abstinence-until-marriage" programs.

"Key findings in the GAO report confirm what we have argued for over two years," stated Jodi L. Jacobson, Executive Director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity. "The earmark effectively requires that prevention programs be designed to respond to the ideological agenda of the Bush Administration and Congress, rather than the local prevention needs of individuals and populations at immediate risk of HIV infection," stated Jacobson. "Indeed, the earmark and the restrictive interpretations of the law by OGAC together contradict the law's stated intention that programs respond to local epidemiological needs and cultural realities and that prevention efforts be integrated."

Key findings in the GAO report included the following:

-- OGAC is applying the abstinence-until-marriage earmark to a larger pot of money than required by law, further reducing the flexibility of program managers in the field.

-- Funding streams and program efforts for "A," "B," and "C" are "disaggregated," rather than treated as an integrated whole and as a result deny individuals at risk access to life-saving information, skills, and technologies.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060404/pl_usnw/new_gao_report_shows_restrictions_in_president_s_global_aids_strategy_undermine_effective_hiv_prevention_efforts304_xml