Reply #2: Amazing that Bush could renege on a promise to assist Brazil [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

with AIDS supplies and STILL expect Brazil to furnish him with the bodies and spirits of Brazil's young soldiers. Wonders never cease.

(snip) U.S. Cancels HIV/AIDS Program for Brazil; Move Fits U.S. Pattern of Politicizing Aid Targeted for Life-Saving HIV Programs Worldwide

9/15/03 11:42:00 AM
To: National and International Desks

Contact: Phil Harvey of DKT International, 202-785-0094

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In a startling move with apparent political motivations, the United States Agency for International Development has abruptly cancelled an $8 million aid package aimed at promoting and marketing condoms and other AIDS-prevention materials in Latin America's hardest-hit HIV nation: Brazil.

USAID has offered no specific explanation for the highly unusual cancellation, which was confirmed last week. The move could directly affect tens of thousands of at-risk Brazilians, including low-income women, and many observers suspect the cancellation is motivated by social conservatives within the Bush Administration who prefer an abstinence-only approach to AIDS despite numerous studies showing condoms to be a critical component in the war against HIV infection.

"Clearly, political forces in the Bush Administration became uncomfortable with the HIV prevention methods that USAID itself had identified as necessary and effective in Brazil," said Phil Harvey, president of DKT International, an AIDS-prevention nonprofit with extensive experience in Brazil. "Unfortunately, this fits a growing U.S. government trend to stop or disrupt effective HIV programs worldwide, thus leading to possibly millions of new deaths from AIDS across the globe." (snip/...)

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=125-09152003

I guess Bush people think the incentive Brazil needs is the hope of not becoming a target for a Bush lethal assault.