The US has spent $1.4 billion to fight the spread of HIV in African countries. Unfortunately, that money was spent on abstinence education, which has proven time and time again to be an abject failure. Ben Mankiewicz (What The Flick?) and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
“The U.S. government has invested $1.4 billion in HIV prevention programs that promote sexual abstinence and marital fidelity, but there is no evidence that these programs have been effective at changing sexual behavior and reducing HIV risk, according to a new Stanford University School of Medicine study.
Since 2004, the U.S. President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief, known asPEPFAR, has supported local initiatives that encourage men and women to limit their number of sexual partners and delay their first sexual experience and, in the process, help to reduce the number of teen pregnancies. However, in a study of nearly 500,000 individuals in 22 countries, the researchers could not find any evidence that these initiatives had an impact on changing individual behavior.
Although PEPFAR has been gradually reducing its support for abstinence and fidelity programs, the researchers suggest that the remaining $50 million or so in annual funding for such programs could have greater health benefits if spent on effective HIV prevention methods. Their findings were published online May 2 and in the May issue of Health Affairs.
“Overall we were not able to detect any population-level benefit from this program,” said Nathan Lo, a Stanford MD/PhD student and lead author of the study. “We did not detect any effect of PEPFAR funding on the number of sexual partners or upon the age of sexual intercourse. And we did not detect any effect on the proportion of teen pregnancy.
“We believe funding should be considered for programs that have a stronger evidence basis,” he added.”*
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Hosts: Ben Mankiewicz, Ana Kasparian
Cast: Ben Mankiewicz, Ana Kasparian
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Young Turk (n), 1. Young progressive or insurgent member of an institution, movement, or political party. 2. Young person who rebels against authority or societal expectations. (American Heritage Dictionary)
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