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$100 Million in Abstinence-Focused Grants for HIV/AIDS Prevention Awarded Under President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

Faith-Based Community Plays Key Role in Expansion


WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov/
Press: (202) 712-4320
Public Information: (202) 712-4810

2004-091

October 05, 2004

Contact: USAID Press Office

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the Bush Administration announced $100 million in new grants for abstinence-focused programs as a part of the President's $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Eleven organizations, including nine faith-based organizations, won the five-year grants through a competitive awards process.

The grants will rapidly mobilize faith-based and community-based organizations to help adolescents, teens and young adults avoid behaviors putting them at increased risk of HIV/AIDS infection in the 15 focus countries of the Emergency Plan. These countries, which are home to more than 50 percent of HIV infections worldwide, are: Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia. The U.S. Agency for International Development will oversee the programs.

As President Bush remarked in Philadelphia on June 23, "I think our country needs a practical, effective and moral message. In addition to other kinds of prevention, we need to tell our children that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid contracting HIV. It works every time."

"Faith-based and community-based organizations have a reach, authority and legitimacy that make them crucial partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said Ambassador Randall Tobias, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. "If we were to work in developing countries but refuse to work with faith-based organizations, we would be harming our ability to save lives-and that is just incomprehensible to us. America will continue to take advantage of the expertise, experience and passion of faith-based service providers to turn the tide of HIV/AIDS worldwide."

Organizations winning grants under the HIV/AIDS Prevention Through Abstinence and Healthy Choices for Youth program are:

  • Adventist Development and Relief Agency International - Silver Spring, Md.;
  • Catholic Relief Services, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - Baltimore, Md.;
  • Food for the Hungry, Inc. - Phoenix, Ariz.;
  • Fresh Ministries - Jacksonville, Fla.;
  • HOPE Worldwide - Johannesburg, South Africa;
  • International Youth Foundation - Baltimore, Md.;
  • Pact, Inc. - Washington, DC.
  • Program for Appropriate Technology in Health - Seattle, Wash.;
  • Salesian Missions - Arlington, Va.;
  • Samaritan's Purse International Relief - Boone, N.C.; and
  • World Vision Inc. - Federal Way, Wash.

In many of the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, sexual activity begins early and prior to marriage. Abstinence-focused until marriage programs are particularly important for young people, as fully half of all new infections occur in the 15 to 24-year-old age group. Additionally, delaying sexual debut by even a year can have significant impact on the health and well-being of adolescents, and on the progress of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The Emergency Plan's HIV/AIDS Prevention Through Abstinence and Healthy Choices for Youth program supports several activities as part of its prevention programs for youth, including:

  • Skills-based HIV education, especially for younger youth and girls;
  • Promoting healthy norms and behaviors within communities more broadly;
  • Reinforcing the role of parents and other protective influences on youth; and
  • Addressing sexual coercion, violence and exploitation of young people.

"President Bush's Emergency Plan recognizes the diversity of countries and the need to harmonize prevention messages at the community level," said Andrew S. Natsios, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. "Correct and consistent information is vital to effective HIV prevention programs."

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief currently operates in more than 100 countries around the world, with a special focus on 15 severely affected countries. In the 15 focus nations over the next five years, Emergency Plan goals include supporting treatment of at least two million HIV-infected persons with anti-retroviral therapy, preventing seven million new infections and supporting care of 10 million persons infected with or affected by HIV, including orphans and vulnerable children.


The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.

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