With states and cities struggling to support schools, infrastructure and other basic necessities, our government continues to spend wildly and wastefully with little political accountability. The latest such example is the $1.4 billion dollars spent on abstinence-only education as an effort to reduce the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa from 2004-2013. A new study shows that the program never showed any success and yet the government continued to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into Africa because the program was politically attractive.
In 2003, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) had a requirement that one-third of the money be allocated to abstinence-only education efforts. While later dropped, we wasted $1.4 billion that could have been used for countless needed programs both domestically and internationally.
President George W. Bush proposed PEPFAR in 2003, but Congress insisted that a third of the money for HIV prevention should be earmarked for programs teaching abstinence before marriage and faithfulness. The result were billboards and radio ads that were viewed as useless and ineffectual.
Eran Bendavid, an infectious disease doctor, and his team at Stanford University studied surveys given to nearly a half-million people in 22 countries. Fourteen countries received funding from PEFPAR between 2004 and 2013 while eight did not. The results showed that there was no real change in the conduct of young people, something most Americans could have told you before burning $1.4 billion. There was also no detectable differences in the rates of teenage pregnancies, average number of sexual partners and age at first sexual intercourse in countries that had received PEFPAR money. It turns out that a billboards in the middle of a highway has as little impact in Africa as it does America.
That lesson however cost $1.4 billion. The “successful” element was that politicians could claim that they insisted that AIDS money be used to fight promiscuity.
Wasting taxpayer money is what our progressive government does best. Perhaps they would have received full-throated support had they funded Planned Parenthood clinics instead.
@Olly
G.W. was progressive? I think we can be asured that most of this cash ended up in the hands of the 1% whether here or there.
“The positive thing is that politicians could claim that they insisted that AIDS money be used to fight promiscuity.”
So it was highly successful as far as those who spent the money are concerned. With a success rate like this we can expect more such spending.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/03/04/3629584/aids-study-abstinence/ “When President George W. Bush enacted PEPFAR in 2003 and increased the amount of antiretroviral medication that would go to Africa, conservative House Republicans added a provision that allocated one-third of AIDS prevention funds to a campaign titled ABC — short for “abstinence, be faithful, and use condoms” — that aimed to dissuade Africans from sexual activity. ” Yep,Glenn, republicans………
The same party that pushed abstinence thru out the south and red states. It worked really well there too….
Why does the federal government redistribute tax dollars for purposes of education anywhere but to the very states and their sub-jurisdictions that comprise the United States?
When the federal government takes money property from among those in the 50 states who produce it and intends it to be earmarked for education, should it not return that property to the states where education is first and foremost the states’ primary responsibility?
@Paul Schulte
Yeah, HIV was almost non-existent before it existed.
Ya gotta say the words….Its the radicalised christian fundamentalists that push these policies.
@Glenn
And what party are they?
“Our government,” “Congress,” “politicians.” Can’t you spell Republicans?
Oxa,
Are suggesting liberals like it when facts interfere with their opinions?
Abstinence education is a touchy subject – onservatives don’t like it when the facts interfere with their opinions.
Gates Foundation is a good idea. But I wouldn’t trust the Bill Clinton Foundation with any abstinence program.
Everett Dirksen. I have testified in a US Courthouse bearing his name in Chicago. Dirksen grew up in the small town of Pekin, IL. His high school mascot was Chinks.
A billion here, a billion there…
http://www.dirksencenter.org/magiczoom/sketch/dirksen1962.jpg?url=magiczoom/sketch/dirksen1962_bg.jpg
Be careful what you wish for
As an example: $40 million Oprah Winfrey girls school in South Africa rocked by sex abuse scandal.
It’s not wasted, Justice Holmes. Think of the corporate opportunities in Africa and campaign donations from those potential corporate benefactors who wouldn’t have had access to African resources without the program. Think of it as government paving the way for economic growth.
You’re not a commie, are you?
Just say no actually works if you use it. Ask the girls for the 1950s, 60s. Most of them said no, for a long time. AIDS was not a problem then, as it is now and there is always the problem of girls dating much older men who are much smoother.
Just one of many examples of reasons why foreign aid is best left to organizations like the Gates Foundation.
Another example of Washington funding its favorite boondoggles and not listening to the electorate.
Outrageous. We cannot fix our roads but we can waste $$$$$$ on this!
As long as our utilitarian republic has check book our national debt will have no ceiling.