WorldTraveler Creations Weblog

I just read an article following the 16th International Conference On AIDS. Apparently, in addition to the other interesting events of the conference, Clinton stood up and defended Bush's President's Emergency Program For AIDS Relief, which gives $15 billion over 5 years. The catch is that countries participating in the program have to use 30 percent of the money on programs that push abstinence. This part of the program has a lot of critics, in part because it isn't particularly successful in Africa. After all, this is a continent where in some countries, female genital mutilation (FGM) is still common, where in some countries some men have the full-time job of going around deflowering virgins to prepare them for marriage. Africa is a continent where, as the article above states, girls are often forced into marriage or forced to have sex. This is a land of different cultures, different values than of those in the West, and I am not surprised when policies based on our own cultural values are unsuccessful. It's not that I am defending any of the forementioned practices, it is that this is a reality in Africa, and a program requiring emphasizing abstinence can only be successful in ideal circumstances, which is a rare find in Africa.

Another aspect that people criticize is the aspect of prostitution and that Bush's program seeks to have recipient countries oppose the sex trade. I'm certainly not in support of the sex trade, but again, it exists, particularly in the Third World, and who are we to judge people for being in it? Who are we to hold back aid that could save their lives, essentially condemning those in that trade to death for their actions? Consider a woman in India, born into the trade because she is on a low rung in their society: does she deserve to not receive information about condoms, or to receive medical care when she is sick? If you want to change things, if you want to see prostitution ended, then work on the society that allows it. Encourage India to end it's caste system that forces women into prostitution. Work to end the poverty and desperation that creates a need for prostitution. That's how you fight it, not denying women who sell themselves to feed their children the medical care they deserve. Again, pushing our cultural values on a different society is not going to change anything for good.

Still, it's pretty amazing to have Clinton defend Bush's program, being a little rusty on the basics of abstinence himself. People get so carried away at bashing Bush, as I'm sure they were at the conference, that they don't see the nine zeroes in his equation of money. They don't realize that 70 percent of $15 billion is still more money than most countries in the world give towards AIDS. I think that Bush has got an excellent program, and that he is passionate about helping people with AIDS, regardless of his numerous haters think. I watched a show recently that was highlighting what is happening in the fight against AIDS today, and they couldn't help but talk about Bush's program, because it's out there and it's helping people. Regardless how you feel about it, it is in the countries that need care desperately, and it shows how little the rest of the West is behind in providing relief (in other words, most other Western nations are hardly involved at all). At any rate, another person to praise Bush's program was Bill Gates. I have an opinion about Bill Gates, but I'll get to that soon in another posting.

 Further Reading: Health experts look to new weapons to battle AIDS - Reuters