The Guardian reports that Brazil is rejecting the US AIDS aid because of the strings attached to the money imposed by our administration's faith-based policies.

Quote: The demand from the US administration, heavily influenced by the religious right, follows what is known as the "global gag" - a ban on US government funds to any foreign-based organisation which has links to abortion. This has resulted in the removal of millions of dollars of funding from family planning clinics worldwide. And from Jodi Jacobson of the Centre for Health and Gender Equity:

"Any organisation receiving US global Aids funding will have to agree to the policy," she said. That would include charities as large as Care, Save the Children and World Vision.

"It is a hugely problematic policy from the standpoint of public health alone. It goes against the entire grain of public health principles in not judging the people you are trying to reach."

Brazil deserves a round of applause for having the backbone to stand up to the idiotic stipulations our (unfortunately our) government imposes. Just because the money cannot go to sex workers or contraceptives doesn't mean that sex workers will stop working: in poorer countries, the occupation is often out of necessity, not of choice. If the contraceptives and/or protections were not made available to those individuals, they will just do without. It is not as if they will just stop working in their trade overnight. By putting restrictions on how the money may be used, the US government is not helping to fight the global epidemic: instead, they are helping it spread.