Senator Boxer: Improving HIV/AIDS Prevention

June 18 , 2007

I recently joined several Senators in introducing a new bill, S.1553, to provide greater flexibility for global HIV/AIDS prevention programs that receive federal funding.

There is currently a federal mandate that requires that one third of all federal HIV/AIDS prevention funds for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) be designated for “abstinence-until-marriage” programs. Our legislation, authored by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), would eliminate this requirement and allow affected nations flexibility to develop prevention programs based on need.

This legislation is, in part, a response to a 2006 report by the Government Accountability Office which found serious problems with the abstinence-only spending requirement. These problems include:

- that the requirement that 33 percent of funding go to abstinence programs limits funding for other key HIV prevention programs, such as mother-to-child transmission and maintaining a health blood supply;

- that the spending requirement limits or reduces funding for programs aimed directly at high-risk groups, such as sexually active youth; and

- that most of the people actually providing services report that meeting the spending requirement “challenges their ability to develop interventions that are responsive to local epidemiology and social norms.”

Medical professionals and experts in HIV/AIDS prevention should be given the maximum ability to design effective and culturally appropriate programs to stop the spread of infection. The ability to save lives should not be restricted by quotas. I am pleased to join in the effort to pass this important legislation.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

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