PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) is no stranger to criticism. However, most of the focus of the criticism to date has been PEPFAR's requirement that one-third of prevention money be spent on abstinence-until-marriage programs.
Other than some initial criticism about not buying generic AIDS medications, the global AIDS advocacy community has mostly praised PEPFAR on its treatment efforts. (PEPFAR's goal of "supporting treatment for 2 million people in 15 focus countries by 2008" has been seen as a crucial step in gaining universal access to treatment by 2010.) Reports that PEPFAR is on-target to reach 2 million people by 2008 (treating 822,000 by the end of 2006) and that it has scaled-up its use of generic drugs have increased that praise lately.
However, PEPFAR's third annual report to Congress (The Power of Partnerships: Third Annual Report to Congress) reveals that we need to reconsider most of the advocacy community's assumptions about the scale of PEPFAR's treatment efforts.
Tuesday, March 20 is the sixth annual Back Up Your Birth ControlDay of Action, and today, a coalition of more than 100 women's health and medical organizations will undertake dozens of educational activities nationwide. Their message is simple: back up your birth control with Emergency Contraception (EC), which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after unprotected intercourse. EC has been available over the counter in the United States since 2006, following a three-year political kerfuffle at the FDA. Women under 18 still need a prescription, which is why many of today's events will focus on increasing adolescent girls' access to information about EC. Here are a few ways to get involved (after the break) ...
Last Friday, reporters managed to stump 2008 presidential hopeful John McCain. What tough topic caused the senator to pause awkwardly and stumble for an answer? Iraq? No ... Poverty? Try again ... Healthcare? Getting closer ... Contraception? Bingo! Specifically, whether contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV and should they be publicly funded.
Now, this should be a no-brainer. Honestly, anyone who has been through sex ed should know that condoms are highly effective in preventing HIV infection. Oh wait ... except that abstinence-only education gets tons of funding (while comprehensive sex ed gets none) and so it is prevalent in our nation's schools despite the fact that it doesn't teach kids medically accurate information, it doesn't teach them how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections and abstinence-only programs actually spread misinformation and religious dogma. Well, don't worry—McCain is also confused about his position on sexuality education. After a long pause, he decided that he thinks he supports the president's policy.
Move over Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Karen Hughes: the Society for the Blaming of Terrorist Attacks on Abortions, Feminists, and Gay People has a new member, and his rhetoric leaves yours in the dust. Meet Steven Mosher, president of Population Research Institute (PRI), a "non-profit research and educational organization dedicated to objectively presenting the truth about population-related issues," and the source of countless objective presentations of truth on sexual and reproductive health. Mosher and PRI are perhaps most famous for their misinformation campaign against UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), the world's largest multilateral provider of reproductive health services, resulting in the Bush administration's decision to freeze the traditional $34 million U.S. contribution to UNFPA for five years running. It's nice when Steve &friends get to dictate U.S. policy on reproductive health, isn't it?
Mosher's latest screed—whoops, I meant objective presentation of truth about population-related issues—comes in the form of a PRI Weekly Briefing titled "How Not to Win the War on Terror: Keep Exporting Abortion and Sex Education."
Last week, as we heard about American women in war, another story about women and war surfaced. An article in the NY Times reported that the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is refusing to acknowledge that Japanese (and other) women were forced into sex-slavery by the military during World War II.
This weekend, after a great stirring of emotions and controversy, the government of Japan reiterated its stance. The women who lived through it, however, are refusing to accept this distortion of history.
My college age daughter and I went to see Spring Awakening on Wednesday. Hailed as a bold and ground-breaking Broadway musical concerned with adolescent sexuality, I expected to love it.
What is happening in our culture when the following two stories break on the same day? First, over at the Washington Post, "Christopher A. Warner says he considers himself something of a maverick, a caring physician willing to challenge medical orthodoxy in order to help women ... he is building a business as the first area physician to perform controversial procedures that use a laser to enhance sexual gratification by repairing tissue damaged by childbirth, to give women a ‘youthful aesthetic look' or to make those who are not appear to be virgins."Meanwhile, over at the San Francisco Chronicle,"A public high school has suspended three students who disobeyed officials by saying the word ‘vagina' during a reading from a well-known feminist play."
Enjoy two super short and funny videos from Planned Parenthood Federation of America (17 and 30 seconds, respectively). They're the first in a series of their pill character promoting Emergency Contraception. For more information, check out their Pill Patrol.
Elisha Dunn-Georgiou is the International Policy Associate at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
Last week, the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) released its 3rd annual report to Congress, The Power of Partnerships: The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief(PEPFAR).According to the report, "Partnership is rooted in hope for and faith in people. Partnerships mean honest relationships between equals based on mutual respect, understanding and trust, with obligations and responsibilities for each partner." While this is a lovely sentiment—and hope and faith do have a place in fighting disease—OGAC should instead be talking about the power of partnerships as being rooted in collaborations that deliver the best, most effective, evidence-based public health program. This includes partnerships with institutions that have technical expertise in evidence-based HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care, or expertise in poverty reduction, capacity building, reducing gender inequalities, reducing stigma and discrimination, and strengthening health systems. Truthfully, it could include forming partnerships with organizations that have expertise in any of the confounding issues that perpetuate high morbidity and mortality rates for HIV/AIDS in the 15 PEPFAR focus countries.
Agnes Pareiyo, the Founder and Director of the Tasaru Ntomonok Rescue Center in Kenya, is one tough cookie Just on the edge of the beautiful Maasai-Mara, Agnes for eight years has run this "safe house" where young girls who are escaping female genital mutilation (FGM) or early marriage can find a safe haven. Agnes ensures that while these girls are under her protection, they are safe from violence and enrolled in school; then she works with the local community to negotiate the girls' safe return to their families without having to undergo this harmful traditional practice. Although FGM is illegal in Kenya, the law is difficult to enforce and is often ignored in the rural areas where the Maasai live.
protection, they are safe from violence and enrolled in school; then she works with the local community to negotiate the girls' safe return to their families without having to undergo this harmful traditional practice. Although FGM is illegal in Kenya, the law is difficult to enforce and is often ignored in the rural areas where the Maasai live.