U.S. Congress expected to remove abstinence-only restriction on funding for HIV/AIDS programs.
America’s International HIV/AIDS program, PEPFAR was launched by President George Bush in 2003 and has since committed billions of dollars in funding to developing nations, with a focus on health professional training, HIV testing and education programs. However, since PEPFAR’s introduction, the programs which it funds have been widely criticised by various international HIV/AIDS groups, due to the restriction that says all PEPFAR-funded programs must allocate at least 33% of funding to abstinence-only education.
2007 marks the first time that a Democrats-majority Senate will review the funding requirements, and it is anticipated that a Senate vote will remove the abstinence-only limitations. It will however be subject to approval by President George W. Bush, who would have the power of veto.
Abstinence-only education programs are based on the principle of educating young people to ‘just say no’ to sex before marriage. This approach is criticised for failing to lower the HIV transmission rate because while no sex is the safest sex, abstinence-only education fails to equip sexually active individuals with the knowledge to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, some groups argue that abstinence-only programs have contributed to a widespread fear of condoms in African nations.
Conversely studies have shown that more comprehensive and varied sex education can reduce behaviours that put young people at risk for HIV/AIDS, STIs and unintended pregnancy. They have also repeatedly shown that this kind of sex education – contrary to the arguments of many conservative religious groups who have lobbied for the abstinence-only conditions – does not lead to the earlier onset of sexual activity among young people and, in some cases, will even lead to it happening later.
HIV/AIDS groups, who have been fighting the abstinence-only restriction since the program’s inception, have hailed the anticipated change, which will now allow them to utilise the PEPFAR money to fund programs that have clear evidence of success, like the Kenyan Training Program which aims to educate 30,000 health workers to deliver information about contraception to young people and families.
‘This change will have a significant impact on programs in developing nations, especially programs that could not previously have proceeded due to the focus on abstinence training,’ said Trish Langdon, Chief Executive Officer of the Western Australian AIDS Council.
‘The “just say no†attitude has been proven not to work. Research shows that even young people who make abstinence commitments are more likely to have pre-marital sex.’
The changes, if passed, would come into effect when the current funding agreement expires in October 2008 along with an extra $30 billion in funding, which is reportedly the largest financial commitment by any one nation to the international fight against the HIV epidemic.
The PEPFAR focus countries are Botswana, Cote d’lvoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia.
