Once again the Bush administration is under fire for letting narrow ideology drive government policy. Testimony last week before the National Academy of Sciences made it clear that this administration makes up its mind based on its neocon ideas, while ignoring scientific evidence it doesn’t like.
We saw just that in real-world terms at July’s 2004 World AIDS Conference in Bangkok, in the battle of condom-inclusion vs. abstinence-only. Bush and Co. want to fund solely abstinence-only efforts, excluding the discussion of condoms as another effective means of preventing HIV transmission.
There is no scientific evidence that abstinence-only campaigns work. Conversely, mountains of evidence demonstrate that a comprehensive HIV/STD prevention approach, including condom promotion, works well.
The proof can be seen most graphically in Uganda, which in the late 1980s had one of Africa’s most HIV-infected populations, perhaps a third of all adults. After a decade of their comprehensive “ABC” prevention program – Abstinence, Be faithful, Condoms if A and B don’t succeed – Uganda’s infection level is somewhere under 10%.
Bush’s neocons, of course, don’t truly care about global health any more than domestic health. Their dual interests are controlling people, especially sexually, and protecting the massive profits of American drug manufacturers. That so many lives are at stake is of no concern. Unlike neocons, true conservatives would readily recognize that, in the long run, global health is in everyone’s interest, including their own.
This article appears in July 30 • 2004.