Funding conditionality is undermining comprehensive HIV prevention efforts

News from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance

7 February 2006: for immediate release

DFID’s announcement of £3m for a new Global Safe Abortion Programme, will go some way to plugging the financial hole caused by the reinstatement by the Bush administration of US restrictions on abortion service providers in developing countries. The International HIV/AIDS Alliance welcomes this initiative wholeheartedly.

However, the ‘global gag rule’ is not the only US conditionality that is having a counterproductive impact on the sexual health and rights of the world’s poor.

Alvaro Bermejo, executive director of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance said:

“Certain conditions associated with US funding for the fight against AIDS are undermining comprehensive HIV prevention efforts. US support for abstinence-only until marriage programs are robbing people of the information, commodities and skills to protect themselves from HIV, and the prohibition on using US funds to purchase and distribute clean needles to injecting drug users puts them at risk of HIV too.

“The UK along with other donors should show similar leadership in this area and close that funding gap now. Five years time will be too late for far too many.”

Ends

Editor’s notes

  1. The International HIV/AIDS Alliance, established in 1993, is Europe’s largest organisation focused on HIV/AIDS and international development. It works through an alliance of linking organisations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to mobilize and strengthen community action on HIV and AIDS. The Alliance provides technical and financial support to civil society and other organisations that support the communities most affected by HIV/AIDS. The Alliance has worked with community organisations from over 40 countries, provided financial support to over 3,000 projects (implemented by over 2,000 community and faith-based groups). Expenditure in 2005 alone is expected to have reached approximately USD 45 million.
  2. For more information about the work of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and to arrange interviews, please contact Simon Moore. T: 01273 718744. E: smoore@aidsalliance.org or Rhian Evans. T: 01273 718961. E: revans@aidsalliance.org