President Bush "has done more than any other president" for Africa

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Absolutely. No other administration has pushed as much abstinence only propaganda - rather than effective and working education and prevention programs - to fight the HIV/AIDS crisis on that continent. No administration has spent more to accomplish less. Awesome job!

The Bush administration has spent over $15 billion on care and treatment for AIDS, and

$1.2 billion to fight malaria in Africa. That's more than any other administration has spent.

Besides, nothing wrong with abstinence - Africa certainly needs it.

Ignorance is bliss.

Absinence does not equal ignorance.

It does if its being promoted heavily to the almost total exclusion of everything else.

You can't educate by denying people the information to make their own choices about their own health.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Absolutely. No other administration has pushed as much abstinence only propaganda - rather than effective and working education and prevention programs - to fight the HIV/AIDS crisis on that continent. No administration has spent more to accomplish less. Awesome job!

The Bush administration has spent over $15 billion on care and treatment for AIDS, and

$1.2 billion to fight malaria in Africa. That's more than any other administration has spent.

Besides, nothing wrong with abstinence - Africa certainly needs it.

Ignorance is bliss.

Absinence does not equal ignorance.

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

[mawilson 2,133]

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

Why??? Abstinence certainly solves both problems.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

Why??? Abstinence certainly solves both problems.

Has it now?

[mawilson 2,133]

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

Why??? Abstinence certainly solves both problems.

Has it now?

I'm sure it has - for those who actually abstain from having sex.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

Why??? Abstinence certainly solves both problems.

In theory - sure. In practice - not so much.

The issue here is not so much the abstinence as the "only" part.

Uganda, I believe is the only African country that has been considered a success story for its response to HIV/AIDS . Though aspects of this success have been questioned - the government did make s*xual health a national priority - through a comprehensive strategy.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

Why??? Abstinence certainly solves both problems.

Has it now?

I'm sure it has - for those who actually abstain from having sex.

Ah, ok. I didn't realize it was that simple.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

President and Mrs. Bush are traveling in Africa to visit a handful of countries receiving U.S. aid through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a five-year, $15 billion relief program launched in 2003 to provide HIV treatment in lower-income countries with high rates of infection. Since its inception, PEPFAR has distributed antiretroviral (ARV) AIDS drugs to 1.5 million people, and, through its prevention efforts, has also contributed to a slowing of the spread of the disease.

Despite its successes, however, the program has its share of critics, who take issue with the stipulation that one-third of PEPFAR's prevention funding go to programs that promote abstinence before marriage and target safe-sex messages at high-risk groups such as sex workers and IV drug users, instead of the general, sexually active young population. PEPFAR comes up for reauthorization this year — President Bush has asked Congress to renew it for another five years, at $30 billion. Before leaving for Africa, First Lady Laura Bush talked to TIME's Alice Park about PEPFAR's goals, successes and controversies.

TIME: What are the goals of this trip?

Bush: This will be my fifth trip to Africa since George has been President. This will be my second trip with him to Africa since 2001. We'll be visiting PEPFAR sites, and programs supported by the President's emergency plan, we will be visiting Malaria Initiative sites, handing out insecticide-treated bed nets and really just looking at all of the different programs in Africa that are supported by the United States, both by U.S. taxpayers through the appropriations from the Congress, and of course by a number of NGOs [non-governmental organizations] that are on the ground, faith-based and other community based groups that are either founded by Americans or where Americans are volunteering.

The goals are the same ones we have every time. One major goal, or I hope one really good result of the trip, will be that PEPFAR will be reauthorized with more money, like the President has asked. It has been very, very successful, and we know how many people are on treatment now — many more than when we started with PEPFAR.

Since PEPFAR was launched in 2003, there has been an increased appreciation for how important prevention programs are, to go hand in hand with treatment programs. What have been some of the ways that PEPFAR has incorporated or enhanced that message?

Well, there are two major ways. One of them is mother-to-child-transmission, which can be prevented. If mothers are taking certain antiretroviral drugs when they are pregnant, their children are less likely to be born with HIV, HIV-positive or AIDS. There is also a treatment for babies [and] young toddlers that can help them to not have AIDS. That's a very important part. Most children in Africa who do have AIDS got it at birth from their mothers. If we can have an AIDS-free generation of children who are born HIV-free, then we will be really making a big step. And that's possible because mother-to-child-transmission can be prevented.

Another part of the prevention is the "ABC" part that really started in Uganda — Abstinence, Be faithful and use a Condom. All three of those are very important for prevention. Abstinence prevents HIV 100% of the time. If you're faithful and monogamous with someone who is either HIV-free or you know has HIV and always use condoms, then you can also prevent the spread of HIV.

ABC has been one of the controversial elements of PEPFAR in some respects because of the definition that PEPFAR uses for ABC. Some critics point out that it carries some faith-based imperatives, and feel that PEPFAR's message might be getting diluted a bit. How do you respond to those criticisms?

All three parts of ABC are very, very important. Obviously, they are important for good sexual health everywhere to avoid STDs [sexually transmitted diseases] of all kinds. This [ABC program] came from Africa, this was what Uganda wanted to do. We adopted the program, which started in Africa. That's important as well; it's not the United States government telling people what to do in Africa. Rather it's a program started by Africans. We know all three parts of ABC work.

I also think it's really important to have an abstinence piece for girls, who, a lot of times, especially with gender issues like there are across many parts of the world, think they have to comply with men. We want to get the message out to girls that they don't have to, that they can be abstinent, and to protect themselves.

Why does PEPFAR focus primarily on the high-risk groups — such as sex workers, discordant couples in which one partner is positive, and the other is not, and drug users — rather than on the more general message that other groups have used on the young population in general?

I wouldn't say that. I would say that PEPFAR focuses on all groups that are susceptible — from babies, for mother-to-child transmission, to young children. I visited schools all over Africa and on every one of my visits the schools themselves have big signs and posters painted on their walls about a friend is still a friend, even if they are HIV positive, to address the stigma problem of HIV... I would say PEPFAR focuses on every group that is vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS. We also work with every country on their plan, and what is right for their people.

What do you hope the legacy of PEPFAR will be?

I hope it will be millions of saved lives. I hope it will be an HIV-free generation, children who don't get HIV at birth. And many, many more people on ARVs so they can live a positive life even if they are HIV-positive. And I think that is what we are already seeing. We are seeing huge increases in the number of people on ARVs. What we want to see with it, of course, is a large decrease in the number of new infections.

What do you think it will take for Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR? Do you see any barriers or issues?

I feel very confident that the American Congress wants PEPFAR to be reauthorized. I think that will happen. I certainly hope so.

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1714274,00.html

[mawilson 2,133]

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

Why??? Abstinence certainly solves both problems.

Has it now?

I'm sure it has - for those who actually abstain from having sex.

Ah, ok. I didn't realize it was that simple.

It is that simple. Sex is not a physical necessity in the way that eating or drinking is.

I wish people would stop treating it as such. There are many ways to deal with sexual

urges without resorting to sex.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

Why??? Abstinence certainly solves both problems.

Has it now?

I'm sure it has - for those who actually abstain from having sex.

Ah, ok. I didn't realize it was that simple.

It is that simple. Sex is not a physical necessity in the way that eating or drinking is.

I wish people would stop treating it as such. There are many ways to deal with sexual

urges without resorting to sex.

There are a lot of unnecessary things humans do that have risks. If it were as simple as telling them to stop taking such risks, we could save a lot of lives.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

(Shedding a little light on the subject of AIDS in Africa)

Wife Inheritance Spurs AIDS Rise in Kenya

Stephen Buckley

Washington Post Foreign Service

It was the summer of 1990, and Mildred Bwire Auma faced a deadly scenario.

Her husband had just succumbed to AIDS. She knew he had infected her. Now her in-laws clamored for her to allow one of her husband's brothers to make her his responsibility, as tradition here has long dictated.

Auma, then 28, could scorn tradition, be driven from her community and face starvation with her three children. Or she could marry a brother-in-law, feed her offspring, protect her property — and pass on the virus.

She chose the brother-in-law. He died of AIDS two years later, but not before infecting two other women. Then they both died.

Another man has since inherited Auma, and when she was recently interviewed, she was nine months pregnant with his child.

She says she knows the child may have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. And she knows that the disease will likely kill her inheritor. Just as it will soon kill her. "Because of the customs . . . I had to be inherited," Auma says through a translator. "They would have forced me. I would have been alone, homeless."

Here in western Kenya, the custom known as wife inheritance once held an honorable promise: A community would take care of a widow and her children. She did not remarry. Her husband's family simply took responsibility for her. If a brother-in-law could not care for her, then a cousin or a respected outsider would. The inheritor made sure that the widow and her children were fed, clothed, sheltered, educated, protected, kept.

He could only take on a widow if he had a family. His first wife would accept the arrangement because tradition frowned on his having sexual relations with his inherited one.

The system worked until the inheritors began to shun that taboo. They had sex with the widows and that helped HIV explode throughout central and East Africa.

One out of every eight people afflicted with AIDS lives in sub-Saharan Africa, where in some countries 10 percent of the population is HIV-positive. In some nations, such as Rwanda, the HIV rate in large towns and cities is as high as 25 percent.

Some countries, such as Uganda, have begun to make inroads against the disease, but many others, such as Kenya, have struggled to convince people that some traditions may also be deadly.

Pervasive as it has been, however, AIDS did not kill the tradition of widow inheritance. Men, often seeking to cheat widows out of land, have continued to inherit them. Widows, shackled by poverty, have continued to rely on inheritors to take care of them.

A number of this country's 40-plus tribes embrace the tradition, but it is especially popular among groups that dominate western Kenya. The region has the highest rate of HIV and AIDS in Kenya in part because wife inheritance allows the disease to grow exponentially, says Omondi Magunga, who directs the Kenyan government's efforts to attack AIDS.

An inheritor has his own family. He infects his first wife and the widow he has inherited. Then he dies, and two other men inherit the women he leaves behind. Those men die. And then their widows are inherited.

"It's a terrible cycle," Magunga says. "You will tell [a family] that the husband died of AIDS, and the woman is probably very sick, but they say someone must [inherit] the wife. They say tradition must be followed."

Most widows in places like Busia possess little education, have no property, do not hold jobs and do not have the skills to easily find one. They must choose, one AIDS activist says, "to [be inherited] and be infected and have food, or you starve."

Auma, of course, chose to save herself and her three children. And essential to that effort was saving the three acres of land she had taken over after her husband's death.

After her first inheritor died, her in-laws threatened to kill her if she did not relinquish the property.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl.../kenya_aids.htm

[Ban Hammer 13,355]

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

Why??? Abstinence certainly solves both problems.

Has it now?

I'm sure it has - for those who actually abstain from having sex.

Ah, ok. I didn't realize it was that simple.

It is that simple. Sex is not a physical necessity in the way that eating or drinking is.

I wish people would stop treating it as such. There are many ways to deal with sexual

urges without resorting to sex.

just get them free internet and porn sites. they'll be so busy masturbating they won't have time for regular sex or wars.

[mawilson 2,133]

just get them free internet and porn sites. they'll be so busy masturbating they won't have time for regular sex or wars.

Amen brother.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Ignorance is believing that teaching people to abstain from having sex is an effective method of reducing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, let alone, birth control.

Why??? Abstinence certainly solves both problems.

Has it now?

I'm sure it has - for those who actually abstain from having sex.

Ah, ok. I didn't realize it was that simple.

It is that simple. Sex is not a physical necessity in the way that eating or drinking is.

I wish people would stop treating it as such. There are many ways to deal with sexual

urges without resorting to sex.

If it were that easy to abstain from sex - you'd think most men, being content with their own left hand would be sexually content and would never seek the company of a woman.

[jundp 191]

Absolutely. No other administration has pushed as much abstinence only propaganda - rather than effective and working education and prevention programs - to fight the HIV/AIDS crisis on that continent. No administration has spent more to accomplish less. Awesome job!

The Bush administration has spent over $15 billion on care and treatment for AIDS, and

$1.2 billion to fight malaria in Africa. That's more than any other administration has spent.

Besides, nothing wrong with abstinence - Africa certainly needs it.

As much as I loathe the Bush administration, they have done quite a bit for care and treatment of AIDS and malaria in Africa. Maybe not as much as many would like and maybe there is much much much more that can be done in Africa, but no other administration has stepped up (whether under pressure or not) in the last 25 years and done anything to help.

As much as I am a bleeding heart liberal Dem, I'm also very actively involved with the CRS AIDS relief and I advise a group of 45 high school seniors who are involved in AIDS Awareness in Western Washington. Nothing I've read and no one I've talked to involved in ONE, DATA, CRS AIDS relief (or any other relief organization) has ever been able to dispute that although most of us don't like him, Bush has been a source of help to Africa.

Now, his intentions may not be purely philanthropic, but at least he's doing something.