Experts Attack Bush's Stance in AIDS Battle

The US faces condemnation this week from leaders of the worldwide struggle against AIDS over the Bush administration's reliance on sexual abstinence as a response to the intensifying epidemic. With a major international conference on AIDS being opened by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today in Bangkok, there are fears that lives are at risk in some of the world's poorest countries because of American objections to a 'safe sex' approach to combating AIDS.Under the influence of the Christian right, Bush has adopted the so-called ABC approach to AIDS prevention - A for abstinence, B for being faithful and C for condoms. But condoms are to be promoted only for use by 'high risk groups' such as prostitutes and drug abusers, with sexual abstinence the objective for all unmarried young people. [more]

• Pictured above: Activists stage a protest at the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, July 13, 2004. More then 15,000 delegates are attending the conference. Reuters [more]
• Bush Underfunds his own AIDS Program: On 6/24/2004 President Bush "call[ed] upon Congress to make sure they fully fund " his AIDS initiative, but in fact it has been the administration that has constantly underfunded its own program. (In this year's spending bill, Congress increased Bush's proposed $2 billion to $2.4 billion, still more than half a billion dollars short of what would be needed to annually fulfill Bush's five-year promise). In his 2003 State of the Union, President Bush pledged to spend $15 billion over five years, but has asked Congress for just $4.8 billion in two years so far . [more]
  

• Middle-Aged Black Men New AIDS Target [more]