Matt Palamar
Period 4
United States HIV/AIDS Government Policy
The continent of Africa and other destabilized regions around the world have been devastated by the effect of the HIV/AIDS virus. The US must take drastic steps to change it’s foreign aid policies. By putting restrictions on the type of aid provided and to who could administer it, the Bush Administration has disabled the United States from making any significant progress towards a cure, or better prevention of the HIV/AIDS epidemic globally.
Former U.S. President George Bush created PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief which provided 15 billion dollars over 5 years to combat the spread of AIDS/HIV in heavily infected areas, such as Ethiopia, Haiti, South Africa, Vietnam, and Zambia. It provided treatment of indivuals with AIDS, palliate care of people infected with AIDS, prevention against the spread of AIDS, (33% of the funds were dedicated to programs which promoted abstinence) and aid to orphans and children affected by the virus. Although PEPFAR provided multiple advantages in combating and preventing HIV/AIDS, many complained that still, not enough was being done.
There were many complaints about a shift in allocation of funds dedicated to prevention of the virus. Most of the money put toward prevention was spent on programs that pushed for abstinence in young girls and women until marriage. “We are now seeing a shift in recent years to abstinence only.” Said Beatrice Were, the founder of Uganda’s National Community of Women living with HIV and AIDS. The fact that there was a lack of diversity in prevention methods was a major concern when discussed in PEPFAR 2, which was reinstated by President Obama in 2008.
The Bush Administration's PEPFAR had a budget of 15 billion dollars, given to 15 countries over a 5 year period. This ammount was not enough to yield substantial progression towards combating HIV/AIDS. Essentially, the program was too underfunded to have...