New York Times Profiles Brazilian HIV Prevention Program for Commercial Sex Workers, Program’s Loss of USAID Funding

The New York Times on Sunday profiled the Brazilian group Fio da Alma, which runs a program that distributes condoms to commercial sex workers to prevent the spread of HIV. The group used to be funded in part by USAID. However, it no longer receives U.S. funding because Brazil in April announced that the country was refusing $40 million in U.S. HIV/AIDS grants because of a Bush administration requirement that HIV/AIDS organizations seeking funding to provide services in other countries must pledge to oppose commercial sex work. Some HIV/AIDS experts say that the commercial sex work disagreement reveals a larger conflict between the U.S. and Brazil over HIV/AIDS policy. Brazil, which spends more than $400 million annually on its HIV/AIDS programs, is taking a more "pragmatic" approach to fighting the pandemic while the U.S. "increasingly is not," according to some experts, the Times reports (Rohter, New York Times, 7/24).