WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (AFP) - The largest US lesbian and gay civil rights group, Human Rights Campaign, on Wednesday called for change in President George W. Bush's AIDS prevention strategy, which puts abstinence ahead of emphasis on condom use.
"With roughly 40,000 new infections in the US each year, it's time to stop putting federal funds towards programs driven more by ideology than science. Our nation's students deserve comprehensive sex education programs that are scientifically proven to work," a spokeswoman, Winnie Stachelberg, told a news conference.
"Recent initiatives have shifted the prevention focus from 'at risk' populations to those who are already infected, hampering funding for many minority-focused community-based organizations.
The United States has promised to generously fund global AIDS efforts yet has only committed a fraction of the funds that were promised, she added.
"Moreover, contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have been reduced, and the US is exporting unproven abstinence-only-until-marriage programs to Africa when these programs are of questionable efficacy," Stachelberg said.
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