No F***ing Kidding

An update to my razor-sharp coverage of the Administration's misguided "A-B-C" AIDS prevention program:
(From WaPo)
"GAO Criticizes Bush's AIDS Plan
Abstinence-and-Fidelity Provision Sowing Confusion, Report Says

The requirement that a large fraction of President Bush's global AIDS plan go to promote abstinence and fidelity is causing confusion in many countries and in a few is eroding other prevention efforts, including ones to reduce mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

The Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator requires that 20 percent of all AIDS spending go for prevention. Half the prevention budget must be spent to stop sexual transmission of HIV. Two-thirds of that spending, in turn, must be used promoting abstinence and fidelity.

"Most of the 20 PEPFAR teams . . . reported that fulfilling [that requirement] presents challenges to their ability to respond to the local epidemiology and cultural and social norms," the GAO authors wrote. About half a dozen teams said the spending requirement "can undermine the integrated nature of HIV/AIDS prevention programs."

Of the 15 "focus countries" -- 12 African countries, plus Haiti, Guyana and Vietnam -- nine reduced the amount of money for programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in their 2006 budgets to meet the spending target for abstinence promotion."

Nice job, kids. A further illustration of the Bush Administration's touching cultural sensitivity.