Politics Joins Scientists at AIDS Meeting

At the 16th International AIDS Conference Aug. 13-18 in Toronto, the Caucus for Evidence-Based Prevention plans to present alternatives to what it says are ideology-driven US government HIV/AIDS policies.

The US-based Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), Population Action International and the Sexuality and Education Council of the US are the main partners of the ad hoc caucus, which includes more than three dozen US and international groups and expects about 100 members to attend the conference. The caucus plans to produce a daily newspaper profiling HIV prevention presentations and hold smaller working groups to discuss topics such as novel prevention strategies.

"We're going to make the public in Toronto aware that there's a lot more going on in preventing AIDS than abstinence and being faithful, which are the answers most promoted by the US government," said Judy Auerbach, amfAR's vice president for public policy and program development.

Auerbach and others acknowledge the Bush administration's investments in AIDS domestically and through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). However, the activists are critical of the earmarking of 22 percent of PEPFAR's budget to abstinence and fidelity programs for the 15 target countries.

"Too often, for ideological and political reasons, strategies with no proven efficacy have been promoted instead of those that are known to work," said a caucus briefing memo.

The conference's co-chair, Mark Wainberg, said many National Institutes of Health and CDC scientists wanted to attend the conference but were prevented by a federal quota on the number of attendees. According to Wainberg, many of them said privately the quota was imposed for political reasons, allowing bureaucrats control over which researchers attend and what presentations are given. The White House contends the quota is merely an attempt to rein in soaring international conference costs.

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