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News & ArtsMonday, November 23, 2009
Health / Homo / News No More PEPFAR Money For Uganda
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 8:40 AM
The United States sends hundreds of millions of dollars to Uganda every year to combat the spread of AIDS. Meanwhile the government in Uganda and the Ugandan media actively persecute gay people—which drives the minority at highest risk for HIV infection underground, which means gay men in Uganda don't have access to HIV-prevention education, resources, or treatment, which ensures that the AIDS crisis there will only get worse, which means all those hundreds of millions of dollars American taxpayer are sending to the Uganda government are essentially wasted. Cut 'em off, says Jamie Kirchick, until the persecution stops. It's hard to argue with that. (Via Sullivan.)
1
Watch your words there, Dan. Are gay men the "minority at highest risk for HIV infection" in Uganda? Unlike in other areas, commercial sex between men and women is the most common route to infection in Africa as a whole, and heterosexual women are disproportionately affected. It all depends on what you mean by "gay men" and "minority," here. Are "gay men" in this context men who identify as gay? They probably are a very small minority. Or do you mean men who have sex with men? They're probably a slightly larger minority. But if by "minority" you meant "socially disadvantaged group," then straight women take that dubious prize.
2
Watch your words there, heh. What an obnoxious way to start a conversation.
What Dan means is that if gays are scared into hiding, they will have unprotected sex with each other and then unprotected sex with women, spreading the virus at a higher rate than men or women that only have heterosexual sex.
What Dan means is that if gays are scared into hiding, they will have unprotected sex with each other and then unprotected sex with women, spreading the virus at a higher rate than men or women that only have heterosexual sex.
3
Doesn't this perpetuate the cycle of death? Gay males make up the most visible community affected by HIV/AIDS in the United States, but they aren't the highest risk community anymore. Black women are, and it's not via any chain related to homosexual contact at this point. Forming a stronger link between being gay and HIV/AIDS makes it harder to reach out to more traditionally resistant communities.
Think of it in these terms: people didn't start dying off rapidly until a few years into the AIDS crisis, but there were certainly a high number of initial infections that went undetected within the community starting in the late 70s/early 80s. Nobody acknowledged it, nobody made much of an effort to report it like they should have, and nobody kept a proper tally until it was too late. It was a mute scream from the gay community until it was an outright crisis.
Similarly, infections within the black community have skyrocketed, and this is partially because most of the community still thinks in terms of GRIDS, and won't associate themselves with HIV tests, treatment or mitigation. In a few short years, we'll realize that their crisis began probably in the late 90s and picked up steam in the mid-2000s. Currently, it's the leading cause of death for black women aged 18-24 and the CDC has found it impossible to find anything more than a negligible link between MSM sex and infections within the black community, so it's not men on the DL doing this, it's serial mongamists, players and the promiscuous. It's the thought that since HIV/AIDS is "gay", it's okay to take your chances and get a shot if you start scratching or oozing.
This is applicable to Uganda since withdrawing treatment and mitigation funds under the pretense of punishing them for their policies towards the gay community will only further the association in their minds and you're likely to see testing rates drop and infections rates increase even more.
We have to acknowledge that this is no longer our problem, it's everyone's.
Extending this a bit, I'd probably start doing outreach to Uganda saying "you have a problem with your country, and we have a problem with your country. Fix our problem and we'll help you with your problem."
After all, it's gay men that have the best network of fundraising, care, research and advocacy for HIV/AIDS treatment and awareness.
Oh, and not to mention the US is to blame for their anti-gay policies, since it was some white evangelicals that went over and advised them on their currently planned laws.
More...
Think of it in these terms: people didn't start dying off rapidly until a few years into the AIDS crisis, but there were certainly a high number of initial infections that went undetected within the community starting in the late 70s/early 80s. Nobody acknowledged it, nobody made much of an effort to report it like they should have, and nobody kept a proper tally until it was too late. It was a mute scream from the gay community until it was an outright crisis.
Similarly, infections within the black community have skyrocketed, and this is partially because most of the community still thinks in terms of GRIDS, and won't associate themselves with HIV tests, treatment or mitigation. In a few short years, we'll realize that their crisis began probably in the late 90s and picked up steam in the mid-2000s. Currently, it's the leading cause of death for black women aged 18-24 and the CDC has found it impossible to find anything more than a negligible link between MSM sex and infections within the black community, so it's not men on the DL doing this, it's serial mongamists, players and the promiscuous. It's the thought that since HIV/AIDS is "gay", it's okay to take your chances and get a shot if you start scratching or oozing.
This is applicable to Uganda since withdrawing treatment and mitigation funds under the pretense of punishing them for their policies towards the gay community will only further the association in their minds and you're likely to see testing rates drop and infections rates increase even more.
We have to acknowledge that this is no longer our problem, it's everyone's.
Extending this a bit, I'd probably start doing outreach to Uganda saying "you have a problem with your country, and we have a problem with your country. Fix our problem and we'll help you with your problem."
After all, it's gay men that have the best network of fundraising, care, research and advocacy for HIV/AIDS treatment and awareness.
Oh, and not to mention the US is to blame for their anti-gay policies, since it was some white evangelicals that went over and advised them on their currently planned laws.
4
Dan, now really. You sound more like one of those evangelists who wanted to cut aid because they wanted abstinence only sex ed. Your myopia towards the world is really getting stale.
5
Quite the opposite, Uganda's Aids crisis was shown to have been reduced in the 1990's in part as the result of sexual behavior changes: increased abstinence, monogamy, a rise in the average age of first sex, a reduction in the average number of sexual partners and condom use.
It seems that in order for Uganda to avoid reverting to the previous status of the 1990's it needs to keep implement those policies that worked to reduce the infections. As a sovereign nation since it's independence on October 9, 1962 from the colonial power that was the United Kingdom, the republic of Uganda has the right to instruct it's citizens about healthy lifestyles, sexual conducts and social mores that are intrinsic to their culture and religious beliefs as a nation. That matter should not and will not be for outsiders to decide upon, but solely for Ugandans themselves, and Ugandans as most other African nations have spoken clearly with one voice about it.
I get that most here favor the types of sexual conducts that are the diametrically opposite of those that most Ugandans do, so not wanting to donate for abstinence programs even when they works is understandable, but keep in mind that doing blindly what has been proposed here is highly irresponsible, there are other ways in which you can help, if not to the education methods then to those who truly are the most affected:
It seems that in order for Uganda to avoid reverting to the previous status of the 1990's it needs to keep implement those policies that worked to reduce the infections. As a sovereign nation since it's independence on October 9, 1962 from the colonial power that was the United Kingdom, the republic of Uganda has the right to instruct it's citizens about healthy lifestyles, sexual conducts and social mores that are intrinsic to their culture and religious beliefs as a nation. That matter should not and will not be for outsiders to decide upon, but solely for Ugandans themselves, and Ugandans as most other African nations have spoken clearly with one voice about it.
I get that most here favor the types of sexual conducts that are the diametrically opposite of those that most Ugandans do, so not wanting to donate for abstinence programs even when they works is understandable, but keep in mind that doing blindly what has been proposed here is highly irresponsible, there are other ways in which you can help, if not to the education methods then to those who truly are the most affected:
7
Those claims of reduced infection rates have been seen as highly questionable. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 10% of the world’s population but more than 60% of all people infected with HIV.
8
Nope, we need to keep helping people, real people, in Uganda and other nations. We don't have to agree with their decisions, but I think we need to help (especially those who are the most vunerable, gays, women, and children) despite the cruelness of their policies.
9
I really don't think cutting off AIDS funding would somehow force authority structures in Uganda to suddenly reverse their stance on homosexuality. It just wouldn't work. A grassroots-based organization dedicated to community education on homosexuality, and sensitive to the cultural structures of Ugandan society, could maybe have the kind of effect you're asking for, over the course of a decade or two. But you can't expect that kind of change overnight as a result of disrupting cash flow. All that will do is expose more people to suffering... gay and straight, male and female. Not to mention that it would be a form of cultural imperialism, and unless you believe yourself to be in control of an absolute standard of morality that can blindly be applied everywhere worldwide (i.e., the evangelical missionary mentality), that's really indefensible.
Actually, it's really easy to argue with this position, Dan.
Actually, it's really easy to argue with this position, Dan.
10
With this post, Dan forever foregoes calling anyone else a credulous fucking hack. Jesus Fucking Christ, you are a fucking moron, Dan. Right, virtually ALL cases of AIDS in Africa are from heterosexual intercourse, but let's cut them off for something that barely affects their AIDS infections at all.
For the love of humanity, eat a fucking sandwich, please.
For the love of humanity, eat a fucking sandwich, please.
12
@10
Thank god someone here has a brain and knows what they are talking about!
Dan, you seriously embarrass yourself here. Don't post shit about Africa when you don't know what the fuck you are talking about. You tried to apply the Western situation of the HIV/AIDS crisis to Africa. It's a completely different ball game over there. AIDS in Africa is about heterosexual sex.
You're the ignorant American that constantly embarrasses ex-pats like me. I'm always trying to convince people that we're not all ignorant dumbasses like they think. But then, godammit, there you go opening your freakin' mouth and proving them right.
Thank god someone here has a brain and knows what they are talking about!
Dan, you seriously embarrass yourself here. Don't post shit about Africa when you don't know what the fuck you are talking about. You tried to apply the Western situation of the HIV/AIDS crisis to Africa. It's a completely different ball game over there. AIDS in Africa is about heterosexual sex.
You're the ignorant American that constantly embarrasses ex-pats like me. I'm always trying to convince people that we're not all ignorant dumbasses like they think. But then, godammit, there you go opening your freakin' mouth and proving them right.
13
A lot of the money for HIV prevention in Uganda comes from the Gates Foundation, located right here in Seattle. Most of the government money flows through Seattle as well, at least as it is managed through I-TECH global health.
If Dan wants to talk to real people who interact with Ugandans every day about this money, he could.
If Dan wants to talk to real people who interact with Ugandans every day about this money, he could.
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