GAO: Bush’s Abstinence Plan Hampering AIDS Efforts

Posted on Apr 5, 2006

Countries with AIDS epidemics actually have to cut the money they spend on treatment in order to conform to Bush’s requirements for spending on abstinence programs, reports the government watchdog.

But it’s all good, because this way, God isn’t being offended by people having sex before marriage.

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Washington Post:

The requirement that a large fraction of President Bush’s global AIDS plan go to promote abstinence and fidelity is causing confusion in many countries and in a few is eroding other prevention efforts, including ones to reduce mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

Those are among the chief conclusions of an 87-page report by the Government Accountability Office that examined the most controversial aspect of the giant AIDS plan, budgeted at $15 billion over five years.

The survey of U.S.-funded programs in 20 countries—15 of them the focus of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—found widespread support for the “ABC” strategy that encourages abstinence until marriage, being faithful thereafter and using condoms in high-risk sexual encounters.

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