Istvan
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Good news: proponents of Abstinence-only education to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa are freaking out about the prospect of president-elect Obama’s plans for foreign policy.
So here’s a little background.
Soon-to-be-ex-President Bush’s foreign policy regarding HIV/AIDS has been commendable simply for the fact that it has raised awareness and provided billions of dollars of funding to promote HIV prevention and programming in developing African nations.
That said, the policy that Bush has employed in Africa has been based on abstinence education and teaching fidelity in marriage. Naturally, the nut-jobs that think abstinence-only education is the most effective policy in the US were equally excited about these policies. I’m proposing that Bush fanned the flames of a growing epidemic.
Abstinence-only supporters like Steven Ertelt of lifenews.com insist that Bush’s policy has been working, much like denying the existence of global warming or believing in the Easter bunny: it’s precious, but people’s lives are at stake. Ertelt, like many of his cronies, cites statistics in Uganda as proof of the righteous power of not putting out. He writes:
"Uganda has consequently become one of the rare success stories on a continent that is being ravaged by the HIV/Aids epidemic," the London Sunday Herald newspaper previously reported. "While the rate of new infections continues to increase in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda has succeeded in lowering its very high infection rates... Professor Francis Omaswa, the director of Uganda's health ministry, said abstinence was the reason for the decline.We should definitely look to Uganda for insight on how to fight HIV then. Even NPR says “Uganda's HIV prevention model has been held up as a showcase for other countries to emulate.”
So, let’s look at their model for prevention for the past 15 years and try and understand why it should work when the evidence is against abstinence-only programs. Oh wait, it's not abstinence-only!
Fred de Sam Lazaro from NPR explains:
It's called the A-B-C approach -- Abstain, Be faithful or use a Condom. The United States says ABC led to a dramatic drop in AIDS infections in Uganda during the 1990s. But health workers say the Bush administration's emphasis on abstinence over condom use has hurt Uganda's AIDS rate. As a result, they say, Uganda's HIV rate is no longer falling.
Well, well, well. I knew we could demystify this conundrum. Let’s hope Ertelt and his ilk’s fears are confirmed and soon-to-be-President Obama makes some real changes in US foreign policy and promotes comprehensive sex education involving contraceptives to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and in the US.
But the restrictions in the Bush Administration's PEPFAR mean that only A and B can be marketed to youth and C(ondoms) can't be provided to youth or discussed with them except in terms of failure.
As you note above, there are reports that Uganda's HIV rates have risen in recent years.
What we are hearing from prevention experts now is that ALL parts of the ABC are necessary to slow the epidemic. Partner reduction, delayed initiation (meaning, waiting to start having sex) and consistent and correct condom use are all vital for public health.
Plus as PhenomenalWoman has written in the blog that currently appears on the front page, in practice it seems like there are huge barriers to condom use in Uganda.
Personally I think it is irresponsible and immoral for social conservatives to oppose condoms and information about condoms in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region where by far the majority of HIV infections occur.