Brazil Fights AIDS

Conservatives see the world as they would like it to be, rather than as it is, and use their political power to force their views on everyone . Sex is something that is supposed to happen within marriage (same-sex of course) and nothing should be allowed that will in any way encourage any other action So abstinence, rather than contraception, is the preferred policy. And they will pursue that stance in the face of its failure, regardless of the severe impact on people, whether that produces unwanted children or exposes people to illness and death. Today’s Washington Post reported on Brazil’s approach to countering AIDS.

A working partnership with prostitutes, [Brazilian] health officials say, is a key reason that the country's AIDS prevention and treatment programs are considered by the United Nations to be the most successful in the developing world. There are at least 600,000 people infected with HIV in Brazil -- but that is only half the number predicted by the World Bank a decade ago.

In Rio, free condoms were passed out like candy as part of a national goal to distribute 25 million of them before Carnival ended Tuesday. But the U.S. government strongly disapproves of such unorthodox methods. Two weeks ago, Brazil received a letter from USAID declaring the country ineligible for a renewal of a $48 million AIDS prevention grant. The United States requires all countries receiving AIDS funding help to formally state that prostitution is dehumanizing and degrading, and Brazil last year -- alone among AIDS aid recipients -- was unwilling to do that.

Brazil has more Roman Catholics than any other country, and the church at times voices mild complaints about the government's programs. But church leaders haven't pressed the issue. The idea of emphasizing abstinence as the basis of prevention efforts -- a stand the United States has officially adopted -- hasn't taken hold here.

"Brazil's sexual culture is very different from the puritanical tradition in the United States," said Sonia Correa, an AIDS activist in Rio who is also the co-chair of the International Working Group on Sexuality and Social Policy. "Our AIDS programs have also been radically different. The denial and the stigma that you find attached to sexual health issues in so many places isn't found in Brazil."

"It's strange, this attitude of the United States that says its way is the best, even in another culture that is completely different," said Gabriela Leite, 54, a former prostitute, who now runs an advocacy group for prostitutes. "If that's the way it's done in your culture, that's fine. But it's different here, and we'll do it our way."

When asked if she believes such an approach is a better way to battle AIDS than promoting abstinence, she said she was certain of it. She also said she has made a point of trying to persuade activists and officials in other countries to join Brazil in refusing to go along with U.S. ground rules, even if the United States is easily the biggest provider of funding help in the world.

Supporting prostitution is not the issue. Thinking our policies will change this fact of life is fantasy. But pursuing this conservative agenda to the extent that we will stop support for a program that has proven its success in decreasing AIDS is shameful and becomes another example of how the Bush Administration has diminished our image throughout the world..