INSIDE DEVELOPMENT
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U.S. Highlights Abstinence at HIV/AIDS Conference
Religious Aid Groups Find Acceptance at Global AIDS Meeting
U.S. Highlights Abstinence at HIV/AIDS Conference
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A booth displays information about the U.S. government's HIV/AIDS initiatives worldwide at the 2004 International AIDS Conference, held in Bangkok in July. Roslyn Matthews, USAID |
BANGKOK, Thailand—Some 20,000 government officials, doctors, and activists at the 15th International AIDS Conference July 11-16 debated the benefits of abstinence, urging people not to have sex outside of marriage, which helped slash Uganda's HIV rate.
In other countries such as Thailand, public education, antidiscrimination campaigns, and condom use also successfully cut infection rates.
"Preventing AIDS is not a multiple-choice test—there is no one right answer to preventing the spread of this pandemic," said Randall Tobias, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, who led delegates from USAID, the State Department, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Abstinence works. Being faithful works. Condoms work. Each has its place," he said. "Those who want to simplify the solution to just one method—any one method—do not understand the complexity of the problem."
The number of people living with HIV/AIDS grew from 35 million in 2001 to 38 million in 2003. Asia is home to more than one-third of the world's population, and today one of every four new HIV infections worldwide occurs in this region.
But sub-Saharan Africa remains most heavily hit by the disease—more than 30 million Africans are living with HIV/AIDS. Every day, 5,000 Africans die of the disease, 11,000 are infected by it, and 6,000 children lose a parent.
The conference discussed prevention and treatment methods and new drugs. It also saw new funding pledges from some large donors.
Much attention went to the growing number of AIDS orphans, which rose in the past two years worldwide from 11.5 million to 15 million, according to the latest biennial report on global orphaning released by USAID, UNAIDS, and UNICEF.
In Africa alone, 3.8 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS since 2000.
"Parts of sub-Saharan Africa are undergoing a tidal wave of orphaning, in varying degrees due to AIDS," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said. "The report clearly spells out what's best for children: keeping their parents alive and healthy, ensuring that they get good educations, and strengthening the laws, policies, and norms that protect children from exploitation and abuse."
In 11 of the 43 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, more than one in seven children is an orphan, the report said.
"This report underscores the critical importance of caring for children affected by AIDS," said Dr. Anne Peterson, Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID. "That's why President Bush made caring for these children an essential component of his $15-billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief."
The United States this year is spending $2.4 billion on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, with $865 million going for HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment in 15 severely affected nations, most of them in Africa.
USAID is helping carry out $15 billion worth of prevention and treatment initiatives over five years under the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
At the conference, the British government boosted its commitment to the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to $270 million. The European Commission announced an additional payment of some $51 million to the Global Fund, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave $45 million to study strategies to control tuberculosis in areas with high HIV infection.
Religious Aid Groups Find Acceptance at Global AIDS Meeting
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Faith-based organizations decorated their booth with banners at the HIV/AIDS conference. Linda Shovlain, USAID |
Faith-based organizations that play a large role caring for AIDS patients played a more visible role at the 2004 International AIDS Conference, held in Bangkok in July. The organizations presented abstracts, manned a booth, and met for a preconference before the official proceedings started.
"Faith-based organizations are on the frontlines of human tragedy and needs around the globe. The AIDS epidemic is no exception," said Linda Shovlain, who represented USAID's Faith-Based Initiatives Office at the conference.
USAID allows NGOs to identify themselves as "religiously affiliated" when they register with the Agency as a private voluntary organization.
The faith-based community set up a booth funded by USAID through Catholic Relief Services to distribute information about their HIV/AIDS programs that tend to the sick, care for orphans, and advocate for the weak.
At earlier international AIDS conferences, including the gathering in Barcelona two years ago, faith-based groups often felt marginalized, said Rev. Robert Vitillo, a special advisor to Caritas International.
"Many people from faith-based organizations felt they weren't really welcome in Barcelona," he said.
"Our applications to present abstracts or present posters or participate in workshops were not accepted. It was very hard to get space to hold a meeting at the conference. Yet it's been very different here. Right after Barcelona, we started meeting with the organizers of this conference, and we've had a very different reception."
Many religious leaders "didn't realize it was in their hands to create an opening," said Anne Smith of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development.
At a two-day meeting before the Bangkok conference, faith-based groups held panel discussions on theological issues of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and discussed best practices in fighting the disease.
Faith-based groups came to Bangkok "prepared to share the invaluable work they are carrying out," said Linda Hartke of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, the lead organizer of the preconference.
