GAO Reports Confusion Over Bush AIDS Plan

[Eugene]

April 4, 2006, 10:38AM
GAO Reports Confusion Over Bush AIDS Plan

By RITA BEAMISH
© 2006 The Associated Press

— The emphasis on sexual abstinence in President Bush's $15-billion global AIDS plan
is creating confusion and impeding efforts to tailor prevention programs to specific
Third World countries' needs, the investigative arm of Congress reported Tuesday.

U.S. teams in most of the key countries report they are having a hard time designing
programs that work for local prevention and which also meet the administration rules,
the Government Accountability Office reported.

<snip>

The administration effort follows a congressional directive that $1 in every $5 be reserved
for prevention of HIV/AIDS, and that a third of the prevention money emphasize abstinence
until marriage and faithfulness to one partner.

<snip>

However, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said the report proves that the spending minimum
for abstinence and fidelity is "misguided" and that she again plans legislation to remove
the earmark.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3769974.html

[rodeodance]

1. and - Smith, R-N.J., blasted the GAO report----as politcally biased!

.....Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., blasted the GAO report as "politically biased and incomplete" and said in a statement, "One of the most underreported international stories is the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the ABC approach are working."

[Demeter]

2. Plan? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Plans!

This bunch does not plan Anything as public policy. And as no money can be made off it, save through drug company profits, BushCo plans to let AIDS continue to spread among the poor, ignorant, and disadvantaged on the grounds that such people are inherently immoral and deserving of God's latest scourge. It's population control--in both senses of the phrase--BushCo style.

[OKNancy]

3. kick

[Hissyspit]

4. WaPo: GAO Criticizes Bush's AIDS Plan

GAO Criticizes Bush's AIDS Plan
Abstinence-and-Fidelity Provision Sowing Confusion, Report Says

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 5, 2006; Page A03

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.

At the same time, the document paints a picture of worried program managers trying to juggle the demands of both their local populations and the U.S. Congress, seeking to craft comprehensive prevention messages while simultaneously keeping account books that strictly record spending on the abstinence effort.

MORE

[leesa]

5. Does brother Neil have the educational program sown up for abstinance

before and faithfulness after marriage? Is that why the price tag is so high? After all, it can only be $$$ for education and that's Neil's gig.