The world's largest AIDS conference begins next Sundaynight. The 17 International AIDS Conference is being held inMexico City from August 3 through August 8.
Atthe conference, the anti-poverty agency ActionAidis releasing a newbook entitled: Politics of Prevention ? A Global Crisis in AIDS and Education.It says tens of millions of young people are at risk due to a lack ofcomprehensive sex education. David Archer, co-author of the book, spoke fromLondon to VOA English to Africa reporter Joe De Capua about what he means bythe politics of prevention.
"Thefield of HIV and AIDS is one where it is now become very clear that although wecannot cure HIV and AIDS, it can be prevented very easily with basicinformation (and) basic education. But unfortunately, large numbers of childrenaround the world aren't able to access that education and that is as a resultof political elements in a number of ways," he says.
Archeroutlines the areas where he says politics have hurt the fight against HIV/AIDS.
"First,the politics around the financing of HIV and AIDS. And secondly, politicsaround?the way in which macro economic support through advice as given by theInternational Monetary Fund?undermines the capacity of governments to invest ineducation. And thirdly, the politics of the United Nations, which are unable toconfront some of the fundamental truths around HIV and AIDS, which requirepeople to talk about sensitive issues like sex?needle exchange and gay men,which can actually save lives," he says.
Askedwhy he believes these problems exist more than 25 years into the HIV/AIDSepidemic, he says, "I think in a way a lot of attention is being focused inrecent years on treatment and ensuring access to treatment and that's clearlybeen very important. But in the last 10 years, I think this area of preventionhas become increasingly political and increasingly sensitive. And particularlyI think we see the way that (President) George Bush's initiative PEPFAR(President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief)?has actually politicized andparticularly introduced this idea that children around the world should only betaught to abstain, an abstinence-only model of education."
Hesays that model has been proven a failure both in the United States andelsewhere. Nevertheless, he says the abstinence-only model has been "exportedto Africa," displacing more comprehensive programs.
PEPFARofficials deny the program ever over-emphasized abstinence, saying, however,they wanted to ensure that abstinence and being faithful received as muchattention as condom use.
Thereauthorized version of PEPFAR, approved recently, eliminates the requirementthat a certain amount of funds be set aside for abstinence-only programs,although some such programs will continue in small numbers.
PresidentBush says he's ready to sign the expanded version of PEPFAR, which provides $48billion dollars for HIV/AIDS over five years. The original version allocated$15 billion. It also stipulates that more than half of the aid goes towardstreatment and care and 10 percent for orphans and vulnerable children.
"Archersays, "I would agree that we are making progress in the right direction. Ithink that officially the money is no longer conditioned on abstinence-onlyprograms and this is clearly a major step forward. Unfortunately, that takestime to filter down into practice. And after several years of funding beingdependent on organizations using only abstinence approaches, you have manyorganizations, who in the desperate need for funding have closed down theseother strands of their work. Now it takes time to rebuild those programs in amore comprehensive way."