Powell Defends U.S. Policy on AIDS

In an interview with the BBC, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States is not backtracking on its commitment to spend $15 billion on AIDS over the next five years. He said the United States is making a greater contribution to fighting AIDS than any other country.

Powell said AIDS is a national security issue since it tears countries apart. "This is more than a health crisis," the secretary said, "this is a national security crisis. This is a crisis in whether or not these countries can remain viable."

Powell defended plans to support programs promoting sexual abstinence. "Abstinence is a good thing to teach young people before they're ready for the responsibilities of sexual activity," he stated. "Abstinence works, we know it works. If you're not actually transmitting the disease through sexual conduct, the disease will not be transmitted." He stressed, however, that abstinence promotion is only part of a comprehensive HIV/AIDS approach including education, safer sex messages, encouragement of condom use, treatment programs and research into a cure.

BBC correspondent Michael Buchanan in Washington said most people had assumed the president would spend $3 billion a year against AIDS, and noted concern that Bush had asked Congress for only $2.1 billion for 2004. AIDS activists voiced concern about the $2.1 billion allocation for 2004; they fear the program could suffer from budget cuts as the U.S. deficit rises. Sandra Thurman of the International AIDS Trust said, "If we're going to increase our debt, the thing they can't stop funding are the things that matter most, and that's providing care and services to people at risk for HIV and living with AIDS."

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