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Loading ...US pledges to put women, girls first in AIDS fight
06.10.2009 3:57pm EDT
(Windhoek, Namibia) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Obama administration will put women and girls first in the fight against AIDS.
Rodham Clinton addressed an international AIDS conference in Namibia by video hookup Wednesday.She says her government will prioritize preventing mother-to-child transmission of the virus that causes AIDS, and work to ensure girls are not forced into prostitution or early marriages.
Africans have welcomed the election of Barack Obama, who has roots in Kenya and is America’s first black president. But Africans also have applauded George W. Bush, Obama’s predecessor, for an AIDS campaign launched in 2003 that expanded AIDS prevention, treatment and support programs in 15 hard-hit countries, 12 of them African.
Okay, women and children first.
When are we going to invest properly in the fight against HIV and STIs here IN THE USA?!
I suppose it’ll be when it’s all women and children getting it here, because gay men are still expendable, apparently.
Barack Obama may have roots from Kenya, but there is nothing to celebrate here. Gays still get discriminated like in other countries – http://www.galck.org shows that they are getting a voice, and encourages international action.
All this AIDS/HIV anguish and grief for lack of condom use! Have a penis? Cover it up before spewing its contents inside a trusting man or a trusting woman.
Uhm, women and girls are less a spreading risk, more of a getting risk. Men spread the virus so much more easily than women. They seem to be going for the “women and children first” approach and that isn’t what is going to quickly help. Should be EVERYONE, not a gender first.
And the Gays will ride in the back of the bus….again!
No one should be “FIRST”. We should battle the disease on ALL fronts. ALL lives are priceless. Unfortunately Ronald Reagan didn’t agree with that. I’m a long time Barack/Hilary fan, but I”m beginning to be disappointed with the whole administration.
SEXIST! SEEEEEEXIST! *throws shoes at them*
While I applaud the decision to work toward decreasing the spread of forced prostitution, I do have some issues with this. First, mother-to-child transmission rates generally are relatively low to begin (of course that is not to say that nothing should be done, though). Second, while I completely support increased HIV/AIDS prevention work and treatment worldwide, there needs to be the same focus governmentally here in the U.S. This sort of decision reminds me of many other “women and children first” programs that have wonderful intentions but problematic consequences. I hope that this one is enacted in responsible ways.
Hilary,whaaaaaaat???
mrs. clinton and the president might want to rethink that ideal! i think women are alert than ever, on the spread of aids even prostitutes go to the clinic to get free protection. i think our young black men should be more alert on this problem so they are not thinking with their penis and more with there heads i think the spread of the aids virus in men is staggering in this country and others!! i think that the obamas and the clintons only want to protect their children because they have daugthers, but what about the young men that coming of age, and learning about sex, do you really want to see them suffer this fate, or pass this disease on to some unexpected teenage girl?that why we must educate the men now more than ever !!