Bush's Aids plan sows confusion

2006-04-04 22:09

Washington - The emphasis on sexual abstinence in President George W Bush's $15bn global Aids plan is creating confusion and impeding efforts to tailor prevention programmes to specific Third World countries' needs, the investigative arm of congress reported on Tuesday.

US teams in most of the key countries report they are having a hard time designing programmes that work for local prevention and which also meet the administration rules, the government accountability office reported.

Specifically, US field workers complained to GAO about ambiguity in the Bush administration spending guidelines for the 20 countries that are receiving more than $10m each in prevention aid - most of them in Africa.

Bush's five-year plan offers treatment and care programmes as well as prevention programmes for abstinence, fidelity and condoms, often referred to in Washington as the "ABC" approach.

The three-prong focus on prevention is valuable, the GAO found, but "teams also reported that the spending requirements can limit their efforts to design prevention programmes that are integrated and responsive to local prevention needs".

State department officials told GAO they plan to clarify the guidelines.

The administration effort follows a congressional directive that $1 in every $5 be reserved for prevention of HIV/Aids, and that a third of the prevention money emphasise abstinence until marriage and faithfulness to one partner.

Republican Chris Smith blasted the GAO report as "politically biased and incomplete" and said: "One of the most underreported international stories is the President's emergency plan for Aids relief and the ABC approach are working."

- AP