Bill and Melinda Gates blast Bush HIV policy

[kpete]

Gates criticises HIV abstinence policies

Sarah Boseley in Toronto
Monday August 14, 2006
The Guardian


Bill and Melinda Gates have come off the political fence and publicly backed key causes of Aids campaigners, criticising the abstinence policies beloved of the US government and calling for more rights for women and help for sex workers.

Making the keynote speech of the opening session of the 16th International Aids Conference in Toronto, on Sunday, the Microsoft billionaire and his wife, who have previously largely confined themselves to discussing and funding non-political scientific research, spoke with passion and commitment about the social changes necessary to stop the spread of HIV/Aids.

...................

"Abstinence is often not an option for poor women and girls, who have no choice but to marry at an early age. Being faithful will not protect a woman whose partner is not faithful. And using condoms is not a decision that a woman can make by herself; it depends on a man.

"We need to put the power to prevent HIV in the hands of women. This is true whether the woman is a faithful married mother of small children or a sex worker trying to scrape out a living in a slum. No matter where she lives or what she does, a woman should never need her partner's permission to save her own life."

more at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,,1844343,00.html#article_continue

[CAG]

1. * lady Laura defends * in quote from February:

"I'm always a little bit irritated when I hear the criticism of abstinence, because abstinence is absolutely 100 percent effective in eradicating a sexually transmitted disease. In a country or a part of the world where one in three people have a sexually transmitted deadly disease, you have to talk about abstinence, you really have to. IN MANY COUNTRIES WHERE GIRLS FEEL OBLIGATED TO COMPLY WITH THE WISHES OF MEN, GIRLS NEED TO KNOW THAT ABSTINENCE IS A CHOICE."

Yeah, the librarian's got a point here, why don't these teenage girls just say NO to their uncles and 42 yo dad's friends that plan on forcing their way onto them??:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[dogday]

2. Laura say no to sex but yes to pot....

hey what a trade off......

[YOY]

3. Or do like the twins do!

Stick to sucking off Young Repubicans! Don't forget to collect and freeze the semen!

[PinkyisBlue]

5. Was George abstinent, Laura?

Oh yeah, he didn't find Jesus until he was 40, when he was "born again", so what-ever he did before then doesn't count.

[Jamastiene]

4. Bravo.

Glad he has the intestinal fortitude to say something. So many don't bother to speak out any more.