Center Unveils Unprecedented Investigation Into President Bush's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief Abroad

The Center for Public Integrity
(publicintegrity/default.aspx) today released "Divine Intervention," (publicintegrity/aids) a year-long
investigation into how President Bush's $15 billion initiative for care,
treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS abroad has failed countries struggling
with the pandemic.



The special report, the first of its kind to examine the policies,
politics and goals of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR), looks at its effects on specific "focus countries," as well as
India and Thailand, where the sex-trade industry is driving high rates of
infection. Reporters affiliated with the Center's International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists (publicintegrity/icij) in
Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Haiti, India and Thailand
found that faith-based ideology -- including abstinence -- often trumps
science in the guise of federal rules, regulations and support of the
organizations receiving taxpayer money.



More than three years after PEPFAR's creation, about $8.3 billion has
been spent with less than $1 billion going to prevention in the 15 focus
countries. Meanwhile, the number of people with HIV continues to rise
internationally, with 75 percent infected through sexual intercourse. More
than 450 people contracted HIV each hour last year, resulting in more than
4 million new cases.



"The goals and directives established by PEPFAR have stifled HIV/AIDS
prevention efforts in countries such as Thailand and Uganda, formally
recognized as success stories, and disregarded countries such as Swaziland,
Lesotho and Zimbabwe," said Wendell Rawls, Center interim executive
director and Divine Intervention project manager. "Sadly, 'compassionate
conservatism' seems not to have been the most effective way to prevent the
spread of the disease."



Interviews with scores of activists, people living with HIV/AIDS,
physicians, health care workers, government officials and academics, and an
examination of thousands of pages of incomplete documents, also reveal a
pattern of contradictory, conflicting and confusing policies.



For Divine Intervention, CPI filed two dozen Freedom of Information
requests and lawsuits against the State Department, Department of Health
and Human Services and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to
access information about PEPAR, which is managed through the Office of the
Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) at the State Department.



During their investigations, ICIJ reporters encountered PEPFAR
officials who couldn't answer basic questions about the programs they
oversaw, PEPFAR recipients who were reluctant to criticize their donor out
of fear of losing funding and Freedom of Information Act requests that were
stalled for months. Requests for interviews and information from OGAC's
Washington office were often ignored or canceled, dozens of phone calls and
emails never returned, and database information that was provided contained
errors.



The report also features extensive in-country interviews, profiles of
all 15 focus countries and a sampling of organizations that have received
funding, as well as a PEPFAR glossary.



Divine Intervention was made possible through grants from the
Popplestone Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Core
support for the Center was provided by the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the
Carnegie Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, the Park Foundation and the
Schumann Center for Media and Democracy.



The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington,
D.C.-based organization that does investigative reporting and research on
significant public issues. Since 1990, the Center has released more than
300 investigative reports and 15 books. It has received the prestigious
George Polk Award and more than 20 other journalism awards and 16 finalist
nominations from national organizations, including PEN USA and
Investigative Reporters and Editors. In April 2006, the Society of
Professional Journalists recognized the Center with a national award for
excellence in online public service journalism for the fifth consecutive
year. In October 2006, the Center also was honored with the Online News
Association's coveted General Excellence award.


Center for Public Integrity

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