A Bridge Too PEPFAR: The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief as Global Panacea

Abstract

This paper seeks to confront the myriad problems inherent in PEPFAR both domestically and transnationally. In particular, we attempt to address the numerous pitfalls of AB (Abstinence, Being faithful) education to the exclusion of safer-sex practice promotion and widespread condom distribution, as well as the various free speech and human rights implications of PEPFAR's anti-prostitution pledge. Not only do these provisions do extensive damage to the cause of HIV/AIDS prevention globally, they also, both separately and in conjunction, grossly undermine the position of women worldwide. It would seem then that, far from being a bold and revolutionary, indeed, necessary step forward in the international fight against HIV/AIDS, PEPFAR instead embraces outmoded and dangerous conceptions of sexuality and gender that undermine the very cause the measure claims to further. This paper proffers numerous avenues by which to avert the PEPFAR crisis, some legal, some grounded in broad-based policy change, both in the US and abroad. Regardless of the road taken, it is clear that both PEPFAR and the conservative principles that underlie it must be revised if we are to promote effective HIV/AIDS prevention worldwide and continue to bolster the precarious position of women in global societies.

Katie Johnson, BSW, LD Candidate, and Alysha Rooks, BA, LD Candidate
University: University of Michigan (Rooks) and University of Pennsylvania (Johnson)
Location: Ann Arbor, MI and Philadelphia, PA
Title of Presentation: A Bridge Too PEPFAR: The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief as Global Panacea