[procaare] Re: Randall Tobias to Head USAID (2)

["Jodi Jacobson" <change@genderhealth.org.>]

Press Release: Women's Rights NGO Raises Strong Concerns over Nomination
of Randall Tobias to Head USAID 
**************

[*Mod note: There have been several news articles and perspectives on
the nomination of Randall Tobias to head USAID. ProCAARE member
Adirieje's comments were posted on the forum and we encourage others to
share as well. Below is yet another news release commenting on Tobias's
nomination.] 

Press Release: Women's Rights NGO Raises Strong Concerns over Nomination
of Randall Tobias to Head USAID 
- Jodi L Jacobson, Gender Health 19 January 2006
****************

Women's Rights NGO Raises Strong Concerns over Nomination of Randall
Tobias to Head USAID

The nomination of Ambassador Randall Tobias to head the United States
Agencyfor International Development (USAID) deepens concern over the
United States' commitment to long-term international development
strategies that serve the needs of the most vulnerable, particularly
women and girls worldwide.  The Ambassador currently is head of the
Office of the GlobalAIDS Coordinator (OGAC) at the Department of State.

 
"Under Ambassador Tobias' watch at OGAC, the U.S. has carried out a
controversial approach to HIV prevention that goes far beyond any
congressional mandate, by, among other things, limiting access to
condoms even in generalized epidemics and hampering effective outreach
to sex workers," stated Jodi L. Jacobson, Executive Director of the
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE).   "Because Tobias has
shown himself vulnerable to pressure by the extreme right at OGAC we
feel his nomination to head USAID at this critical moment is cause for
great concern."
 
"As Administrator of USAID, Ambassador Tobias will oversee a large
portfolio of development programs that affect the health and rights of
women and girls," stated Jacobson.  These programs include critical
efforts to expand and strengthen reproductive health and family planning
programs worldwide; programs which are a matter of life and death in
countries where complications of pregnancy, childbirth, unsafe abortion,
and HIV infection are the leading killers of women ages 15 to 49.  Under
previous Administrations, USAID was arguably the leading global agency
in developing effective, evidence-based programs to address these
problems, and in providing technical assistance to countries in every
region.
 
"However, under President Bush, the extreme right in the United States
has been given 'carte blanche' in controlling both domestic and
international policies and programs addressing reproductive and sexual
health, including HIV prevention," asserted Jacobson.  
 
"Tobias has been all too willing to accede to the demands of the extreme
right in developing policies and programs based on ideology rather than
evidence," stated Jacobson.  
 
For example:
 
--  Ambassador Tobias has put in place HIV prevention policies focused
on "abstinence-only-until-marriage" and "secondary abstinence." These
strategies go far beyond any Congressional mandate, despite the vast and
mounting evidence that such programs leave large segments of the
population at immediate risk of HIV infection.  In Nigeria, Kenya,
Uganda, and Tanzania between 55 and 71 percent of those ages 15 to 24
are already sexually active, yet under current U.S. policies this group
gets no information, skills, or training on safer sex strategies.  In
other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, new infections are rising fastest
among married women, further demonstrating that
abstinence-until-marriage HIV prevention programs have no relationship
to common modes of HIV transmission.
 
--  Ambassador Tobias has made inaccurate public statements on the role
of condoms in reducing the spread of sexually transmitted infections,
including HIV.  In a March 2004 Congressional hearing, Tobias testified
that the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) had
reported that condoms were ineffective in preventing the spread of HIV
for the general population.  In response, the President of LSHTM wrote
Ambassador Tobias,"[W]e cannot find the source for this claim.  Indeed,
there has been a steady stream of publications from LSHTM attesting to
the importance of condom promotion as a part of any comprehensive HIV
prevention strategy. "Yet the Ambassador repeated the same claim in
another Congressional hearing in May 2004.  In another unsupported
statement in April 2004, he asserted that "[s]tatistics show that
condoms really have not been very effective."

--  Ambassador Tobias has funded questionable organizations despite
their lack of technical competency.  Tobias approved a $10 million grant
for HIV prevention to the Children's Aid Fund (CAF), despite the fact
that the proposal submitted by CAF failed to pass review by an expert
technical committee.  The organization is run by Anita and Shepherd
Smith, supporters of President Bush.  Anita Smith also serves as the
Chair of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.  Under OGAC, many
other, similar organizations, including those that qualify simply
because they are "faith-based," are now receiving large sums from the
U.S. government without adequate mechanisms for monitoring their use of
U.S. taxpayer funding.
 
--  Programs focused on the needs and rights of women are largely absent
from the OGAC strategy, despite the fact that the highest rates of new
infections are in older adolescent girls ages 15 and above and in
married women in their twenties and thirties.  The female condom -- the
only currently available female-controlled method of HIV prevention --
is largely ignored by OGAC.
 
"Ambassador Tobias' willingness to foster an ideological agenda under
OGAC raises serious questions about his treatment of other sensitive
issues that will fall within his purview at USAID, such as broader
reproductive health and family planning programs," stated Jacobson.
"Such programs remain a primary target of the extreme right in the
United States.  Given his past history, we have no confidence that
Ambassador Tobias would stand up to an ideological assault on these
programs."  
 
Before confirming him for this post, "the Senate must ensure that
Ambassador Tobias is committed to non-partisan humanitarian aid programs
that seek the best methods -- and use the best people -- to improve
health and reduce poverty worldwide.  Humanitarian aid programs should
respond to needs of people, not politicians," Jacobson concluded.

----------
The Center for Health and Gender Equity is a U.S.-based non-governmental
organization focused on the effects of U.S. international policies on
the health and rights of women, girls, and other vulnerable populations
in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.   

If you have difficulties viewing this message please e-mail
change@genderhealth.org.

CONTACT:  Jodi L. Jacobson
Telephone: 301-270-1182
Mobile: 301-257-7897
Website: www.genderhealth.org

Cross-posted from: SEA-AIDS