Counting Condoms: Donors Coming Up Short – U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), PAI and Others Say U.S. Policies Impede Global Fight Against AIDS

July 14, 2004

Bangkok, Thailand — U.S. policies to fight the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS through ‘abstinence-until-marriage’ programs are biased and unproven, according to policy and education experts who participated in a recent audio news conference during the XV International AIDS Conference.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who last week introduced H.R. 4792, a bill that would improve HIV prevention strategies by placing an emphasis on the needs of women and girls and remove funding earmarked for abstinence-only programs said, “The majority of delegates here at this conference are very critical of the United States’ policy as it relates to abstinence-only because they know that only a comprehensive strategy will work.” Through her bill, Rep. Lee hopes to focus strategies on “assisting women with negotiating their own lives so that they can be less at risk.”

Bill Smith, director of public policy at Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) emphasized that ‘abstinence-until-marriage’ policies within the U.S. have proven to be ineffective. “We now have five states – California, Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Arizona – that have attempted to implement ‘abstinence-only-until-marriage’ programs and have arrived at a science-based conclusion that these programs are not working. Additional research on certain types of these programs finds that [the administration is] undermining the use of condoms when young people are becoming sexually active.”

Smith added that ‘abstinence-until-marriage’ programs “do more than just turn back HIV efforts, they also undermine the landmark ICPD consensus of Cairo made just ten years ago. The Cairo program of action recognized the pivotal role of reproductive health and rights and the empowerment of women girls as foremost in achieving sustainable populations and consequent progress in development.”

According to Condoms Count, a report released in Bangkok by PAI, there is an escalating need for contraceptives throughout the world and donor countries supply only one quarter of the global need for condoms.

Terri Bartlett, vice president for public policy at PAI said, “Condoms are viable and lifesaving tools that are a vital part of any comprehensive strategy to thwart the spread of HIV/AIDS. We have learned the hard way, particularly from the United States, how policies can hamper programs globally and block access to family-planning programs.”

Bartlett went on to say that the report estimates 10 billion condoms were needed in 2002 to significantly reduce the rate of HIV infection and prevalence in the developing world and Eastern Europe. In 2004, that figure increased to 12 billion.

“It is clear that what we need to do is declare all-out war against HIV infection among young people,” said Akenji Ndumu, a youth delegate to the conference from Advocates for Youth. “That means two things: one is the recognition that youth are able to make responsible decisions when given the right information; the second is that young people must be treated as full and equal partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

Having experienced the devastating affects of HIV/AIDS firsthand from his native Cameroon in West Africa, Ndumu added, “It is important to recognize the fact that condoms can save lives and it is downright wrong and unethical to withhold such lifesaving sexual information from young people.”