Recent media - Big funders and gender blunders

www.pbs.org

Article 1: "Bush To Request $30B, Five-Year Extension of PEPFAR"

President Bush went out to the Rose Garden last week and asked Congress to double current funding levels for PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief).

During the first five years after he leaves office, the figure would amount to 30 billion dollars. This would permit the number of people receiving access to antiretroviral drugs through PEPFAR to increase from 1.4 million to 2.5 million.

For the entire article, see: Bush Requests $30 Billion to Fight AIDS




www.yahoo.com


Article 2: "Cultural Traditions Regarding Women Fueling Spread of HIV in Botswana, Swaziland"

Physicians for Human Rights recently reported that cultural traditions that do not value women are fueling the spread of HIV in both Botswana and Swaziland.

"The legal systems in both countries grant women lesser status than men, restricting property, inheritance and other rights," the report said.

Women in these two countries often do not have control over sexual relationships, including condom use, and they are afraid that testing positive for HIV will jeopardize their relationships or lead to stigma.

As regular readers of this blog know, Swaziland has an HIV prevalence of about 40%, Swazi culture sanctions both polygamy and multiple sexual partners.

For the entire article, see: Discrimination against women spreading AIDS