He was speaking at one of the symposiums in Kobe for the 7th International
Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.
"This new order puts a gag on information and services governments provide,
like condoms and needles, stifles human rights concerns, and blocks public
health measures to change behavior while preaching that you shouldn't have sex
or do drugs. It encourages stiff penalties and punishments and propagates
antiquated morals to control behavior," Grover said, citing both the U.S. and
India as examples of countries where such an order is most visibly emerging.
"We hear lots of talk on morality, but people are forgetting that AIDS is a
health problem that affects all levels of society. But there is no room for
ideology in developing AIDS policies," said Nafis Sadik, a Pakistani woman who
is a special adviser to the U.N. Secretary General and special envoy for
HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.
In the U.S., the past several years have seen much funding for AIDS prevention
go to groups with a fundamentalist Christian agenda that emphasizes abstaining
from homosexual or drug activities. Governments of other countries like India
have faced pressure from fundamentalist Hindu and Muslim groups to curb the
availability of condoms and to stop assistance policies for those affected by
the epidemic.
Yet in Iran, which is under Muslim law, the courts have issued rulings over the
past few years that make it easier to offer treatment to people who contracted
HIV/AIDS through intravenous drug use, according to Grover.
In 2001, Iran's Health Ministry publicly endorsed harm reduction and offered
needles, as well as the use of a drug called methadone, which can help slow the
spread of the HIV. A local court ruled in 2005 that the use of the drug,
although forbidden under Muslim law, may be permitted if it saves lives.
Constance Carrino, director of the office of HIV/AIDS at USAID, said it has
been the policy of the U.S. government since 2003 to focus on prevention
techniques.
Speaking to an audience clearly hostile to U.S. policy on HIV/AIDS, Carrino
said the U.S. has provided information to people in 15 countries around the
world on the risks of engaging in unsafe sex and to drug users on the risks of
sharing needles.
