AIDS has been around for a quarter of a century, and the U.N. is holding a three-day conference on the virus. A group of 14 nations, led by France, is going to implement an airline tax to help pay for AIDS drugs. The U.S. Government is not willing to participate because they feel it's more rational to try to convince everyone to be a virgin.
From the
LA Times article:
Bush called for an international HIV testing day, modeled on the United States' own, and praised the U.N.'s official anti-AIDS policy called ABC -- Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom use -- without dwelling on the fact that U.S. funds focus on abstinence-only programs, to the criticism of many activists who say that ignoring condoms is unrealistic.
The U.S. sided with unlikely allies such as Syria, Yemen and Pakistan in opposing "empowerment for girls" in birth control and marital relations.
...
The U.N. estimates that it needs more than $20 billion by the end of the decade to provide preventive education and medicines to the growing number of people infected. But world leaders shied away from promising specific amounts at the conference, and so far, the AIDS war chest has pledges for less than half what is needed.
But a group of 14 nations, led by France, announced a new mechanism to provide greater access to drugs, funded by a tax on airline tickets that is expected to raise more than $258.3 million a year.
posted by Matt Borondy at 6/03/2006 12:02:00 PM 
