Bush Admin. $15B AIDS Plan Questioned (GAO)

The Bush administration's $15 billion global AIDS initiative is emphasizing sexual abstinence and fidelity more than Congress intended, and that focus is undermining prevention efforts in poor countries, congressional investigators said Tuesday. U.S. teams on the ground in Africa and other poor areas told Congress' Government Accountability Office that the requirement that they spend a specific percentage of their money on abstinence is hurting some efforts to tailor prevention programs to countries' needs.

The directives are creating confusion and forcing reduction in some programs deemed necessary for pregnant women, high-risk groups like truck drivers and sex workers, married couples and sexually active youths, the GAO said.

The GAO reported there was "general consensus" among public health experts internationally that the three-pronged prevention approach "can have a positive impact in combating HIV/AIDS."

But it recommended Congress evaluate the effectiveness of the abstinence spending formulas, and the administration consider changing how it implements the law. "Lack of clarity in the ABC guidance has created challenges for a majority of focus country teams," the GAO reported.