Day Twenty Five: The Wrong Type of Sex Ed = No Funding!

While researching AIDS, I came across "the world's most popular AIDS website"- AVERT.org. It is full of AIDS facts, news, and videos from around the world. I found a thought-provoking article about HIV prevention and sex education. The full article is here: www.avert.org/abstinence.htm

Sex Education has been a hotly debated since sex "education" became a part of the school curriculum. The parties divide themselves into two camps, Abstinence Based (i.e. Aspire, Love Waits) vs. a Comprehensive approach. Recently, programs combining the two have been developed, an "abstinence plus" approach (seen in programs such as Reducing the Risk and APAUSE- Added Power and Understanding in Sex Education). So what do sex education approaches have to do with AIDS in Africa?

Since 2003 PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) has given $18 billion dollars to addresss the international HIV/AIDS crisis. If you were paying attention to the date you would notice that it was George W. Bush and the Republican administration that initiated the PEPFAR organization. President Bush was also synonymous with Abstinence Education programs. Put two and two together and one would conclude that a majority of PEPFAR money goes to countries that promote abstinence-only (i.e. Uganda, Botswana, South Africa). That is exactly the criticism facing PEPFAR. (Of course, President Obama will have a different agenda since he's cut federal funding in the US for abstinence-only programs in favour of a more comprehensive approach.)

Eighteen billion dollars can't be argued with. A lot of lives have been saved with this money. The PEPFAR organization has been a significant contributor in preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and virtually eliminating it in the US. However, funding based on the sex ed program "du jour" in favour with the current presidential administration leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The pragmatic voice in the back of my head considers that in order to save lives a sex education program must be used, and that comes with it's own set of values, tied to the values of those who are the source of funds. Then again, perhaps I'm just too naive to expect a humanitarian program to consider human needs and lives over being politically correct.