HIV/AIDS and Food Crisis in Africa
UNFPA has resolved to convene regional meetings to address both HIV/AIDS and the food crisis affecting millions of Africans. Xinhua General News Service reported January 27 on� UNFPA Humanitarian Unit Chief Pamela Delargy�s announcement that the first regional working meeting for UNFPA field offices and partners in southern Africa is set for Cape Town on Feb. 7. Delargy said the initiative reflects the realization that disease and famine each tend to worsen the effects of the other.

SAVING WOMEN�S LIVES
WHO Appoints New Leader
Alleviating poverty through improvements in people's health, especially women�s health, has been the World Health Organization's focus. Women�s Enews� January 27 story noted that whether that focus on women will change under new leadership is a subject of concern to women's health advocates. "I do not believe that gender and women's health issues can be addressed in isolation from the current challenges of global health and poverty," said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, outgoing WHO Secretary-General. "It is a stark reality that 70 percent of the world's 1.2 billion poorest people are women. We cannot advance women's standing in society without improving their health. In other words, tackling global poverty means tackling women's issues-starting with women's health." According to a January 29 story by The Boston Globe, Jong Wook Lee, a South Korea public health expert who led efforts to curb tuberculosis and eradicate polio, was chosen to be the next leader of the WHO. Read: Women�s Enews and Boston Globe �

U.S. POLICY AND UNFPA
The $34 Million Marked for UNFPA
is to be Diverted to Afghan Aid According to a January 22 story by Agence France Presse, �The United States has diverted $34 million withdrawn from the UN Population Fund�to projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan� in concern over UNFPA projects in China. The provider in Afghanistan will be the USAID�s Child Survival and Health Program Fund, said Brenda Greenberg, a State Department spokeswoman.

[EDITOR�S NOTE: Although the U.S. State Department has announced its intention to reprogram this money, Congress has put the transfer on hold pending further clarification.] �

U.S. Promoting Uganda Program as a Success Story of Teaching Abstinence
National Public Radio�s Morning Edition featured a January 21 segment on the Bush administration�s claim that its promotion of sexual abstinence education In Uganda was a success story. Claude Allen of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Bush administration's point man for promoting abstinence education programs, said that the country had lowered its HIV infection rate from 30 percent to 5 percent in a decade. During the segment, the Alan Guttmacher Institute�s Susan Cohen said, �The purpose of the [U.S. delegation site visit] trip [to Uganda], quote, �was to better understand the role of abstinence education in the battle against HIV/AIDS.� Now I think it's significant that the HHS team did not go over there to look at what were the factors that contributed to the turnaround in HIV rates in Uganda. They're only looking at the role of abstinence.� Cohen stressed that conservatives have adopted this as their sole population strategy since Bush became president. NPR�s Brenda Wilson noted, �In Congress, they have cut the funding for the United Nations Population Fund and challenged the funding of international family planning organizations that conduct AIDS research in brothels and among commercial sex workers.� Listen: NPR�s Morning Edition and East African Standard (Kenya) �

U.S. Funding for UNFPA Discussed During 30^th
Anniversary of Roe v. Wade In Knight Ridder�s January 23 story marking the 30^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it noted that �[President] Bush has made his greatest abortion-related splash in other countries by eliminating millions of dollars to the United Nations Population Fund and cutting off money to foreign groups that support, promote or counsel women on abortion. The political risk is minuscule since American voters are not personally affected by those policy changes.� Read: Knight Ridder (Reprinted in: Biloxi Sun Herald (MS), Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) and Miami Herald (FL). Also see The Associated Press� Jan. 20 story and Time magazine�s January 27 story, �Under the Radar.�

POLAND CALLS TO ADD ABORTION POLICY TO EU TREATY
Poland wants its accession treaty with the European Union to state its freedom to set abortion policy, said a government spokesman, in a move meant to blunt opposition to EU membership ahead of a summer referendum. The Associated Press reported January 28 that the declaration, which was sent to Brussels, states, "No EU treaties or annexes to those treaties would hamper the Polish government in regulating moral issues or those concerning the protection of human life." The left-wing government of Prime Minister Leszek Miller promised to liberalize the law after its 2001 election victory but has shelved the issue, avoiding a confrontation with anti-abortion parties and the church ahead of the EU referendum planned for June. "The declaration will prevent EU opponents from using false arguments that the EU would impose on Poland any regulations concerning moral and religious issues," government spokesman Michal Tober said at a news conference. Read: Associated Press and The Guardian (London)

VATICAN PUBLISHES �GLOSSARY� ON SEX TERMINOLOGY
The Vatican wants to prevent cultural manipulation of the family in no uncertain terms, reported The Washington Times on January 17. The upcoming "Lexicon of the Family and Life" will reflect the Catholic Church's teachings on birth control, sex education, assisted procreation and homosexuality. The work intends to clarify "neologisms, ambiguous terms and difficult concepts in frequent use," such as "voluntary interruption of pregnancy," "reproductive health," "matrimonial indissolubility," "sexual education" and "conjugal love." Read: Washington Times and Associated Press

EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS
�There was a moment last month when the Bush administration overturned Roe vs. Wade. You may not have noticed because it happened in Bangkok�out of sight, out of media mind,� wrote Ellen Goodman in her January 19 column in The Boston Globe. Goodman noted: �Our government went there to try to deep-six a U.N. agreement on family planning. One of our delegates promoted abstinence-only education. Another warned of the risks of condoms. A third shared her personal success story using the rhythm method. Then Assistant Secretary of State Gene Dewey took the podium. He said to the assembled: �The United States supports the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.�" She concluded, �Now on the 30th anniversary, push is coming to shove, foreign policy is coming home. Thirty years. Thirty million. This time we'll be watching.� Read: The Boston Globe (MA) and op eds placed by Planned Parenthood affiliates in: The Boston Globe, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA), The Sun Sentinel (FL)

On the eve of President Bush�s State of the Union address, The Washington Post ran a January 27 oped by Bono, lead singer of U2, that noted if Bush �declares that Africa's AIDS epidemic is an emergency, people watching in America and around the world will stand up, cheer and volunteer to help.� Bono concluded, �And if he backs his commitment in his budget, he will show the world the kind of leadership that only America can provide. As the Midwesterners I met told me, this is not simply a matter of conscience. It's a test of America's greatness.� Newspapers reported after the address that Bush�s $15 billion aid proposal had �stunned� AIDS activists. Read: The Washington Post�

�Is it science or is it politics?� asked The Boston Globe�s January 17 editorial. It asked the question about two federal public health Web sites that have been altered to conform more to conservative social ideology. �What Americans deserve is rigorous scientific information that is clearly presented,� the Globe said. It concluded that � Science keeps uncovering amazing fountains of knowledge. These insights shouldn't be dimmed or twisted by politics.� Read: The Boston Globe

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The above summary was written by Elena Cabatu and Kathy Bonk at the Communications Consortium Media Center, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, 202/326-8700. Redistribution