Ensure Global Access to Effective HIV Prevention

Support the PATHWAY Act

The Problem

President Bush’s announcement in 2003 of the creation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—a five-year, $15 billion global initiative to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic—represented a significant commitment to funding for the HIV/AIDS pandemic. However, the U.S. Government Accountability Office recently published a report, which concluded that ideological restrictions in the original legislation authorizing PEPFAR undermine efforts to effectively prevent infections and hamper the development of evidence-based strategies needed to respond to local needs.

Making condoms accessible to at-risk populations has proven to be an effective preventative measure, while abstinence-only programs have proven ineffective in curbing the spread of HIV. Given its position that the distribution of condoms is the last resort of PEPFAR’s ABC policy (Abstinence, Be Faithful, and Use Condoms), PEPFAR has not adequately addressed the needs of women and youth at risk for infection.

PATHWAY Act 2007
To address these deficiencies in PEPFAR, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and a bipartisan group of 86 other Members of Congress have introduced and endorsed the Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth Act of 2006 (PATHWAY Act).

This Act requires the US President and the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator to establish a comprehensive, integrated HIV prevention strategy to address the vulnerabilities of women and girls, and also strikes the requirement that 1/3 of all prevention funding be dedicated to abstinence-only programs.

PATHWAY’s specific recommendations also include:
  • Increased access to female-controlled prevention methods;
  • Creation and enforcement of legal initiatives that guarantee equal protection for women;
  • Investments in women’s educational opportunities;
  • Development of income-generating projects for women; and
  • Protection of the property and inheritance rights of women.
Action

SIGN A POSTCARD TO CONGRESS

Join thousands of others around the country in signing postcards asking Congress to remove the abstinence-until-marriage earmark and pass the PATHWAY Act (Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth Act).

Sign a postcard to your Representative today and we will hand deliver it to him or her (along with dozens/hundreds/thousands of additional postcards from people in your district).

Post Card Front:


Postcard Back:
The image of the back of the card is too large to be legible here. To see the full image click here.

This is what the back says:

Dear Representative ______:

The requirement by Congress that at least 33% of US global HIV prevention funding be spent on abstinence-until-marriage programs is costing lives. These programs do not address the realities of the populations they target. Many adolescents in high prevalence countries are sexually active and at risk of infection. Worldwide, more than 80% of new HIV/AIDS infections in women result from sex with husbands or primary partners. I urge you to support the PATHWAY Act (H.R. 1713), which removes the 33% funding requirement and allows for comprehensive HIV prevention programs that meet the needs of women and youth.

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Please consider adding a comment of your own to the text of the postcard. Tell your Representative why you think it is particularly important that she or he support comprehensive HIV prevention globally.



Abstinence-until-marriage programs fail women and girls.
To learn more, visit www.pepfarwatch.org/pathway