Well, anyway, this program was accepted by Africans, and ended up saving millions of lives. But Bush was Republican so of course few in the USA or Europe ever heard about it.
But now Biden seeks to subvert this popular program to push birth control and abortion on Africans.
Why does this matter? Because it's a bad policy. Because it will cause a suspicion that the policy is about population control, not saving lives. And that will decrease the trust in this lifesaving program. Don't believe me? False (and partly true) similar rumors have stopped measles and polio vaccine in Muslim areas and Tetanus vaccine to prevent neonatal tetanus in Uganda by Christian bishops.
Trust is a delicate thing. Just look at the distrust against the Covid vaccine because the side effects were covered up.
Like the Biden State Dept etc who pushes gay rights on countries by linking this policy to aid given to these governments, subverting Prepfar, which saves lives, with organizations who openly push the idea that there is a need to stop Africans from having children will be seen as a racist plot to stop Africans from having babies because of racism.
and if you don't think China notices this and quietly points this out to the leaders of these countries, then you are naive.
ah but the western press will pretend this is about evil Republicans opposing Prepfar because racism, and ignore that this policy is being changed by Biden, as one more way to push the gender agenda on poor countries.
essentially this will let them hijack the funds to go from those saving lives by giving out HIV drugs to NGOs whose object is to push birth control and abortion, and worse, to pressure these countries to change their laws.
When I worked in Africa, every village had a "pill lady" to give out birth control, because we did the public health for the area, and as a Catholic hospital we did not give out birth control
however, although we had pill ladies, a lot of these villages had no wells for drinking water etc. Essentially: Lots of money to stop babies from being born, but no money to provide water so they didn't die of diarrhea.
The sisters started a program for villagers to dig shallow wells, line the holes, and then we got funds to cover the well with a concrete slab (so no one would fall into the well) and install a simple pump. True, this water was not always clean (we still urged them to boil it or use filters for drinking water) but it enabled them to wash and clean. Before this, often the only water in the dry season would be from rivers which might mean walking a long distance and carrying the water home.
We also funded village health workers, who could give out simple Rehydration fluid for diarrhea (a simple rememdy that can cut the rate of death up to 90 percent), teach basic hygiene and nutrition, and monitor children for malnutrition, care for minor wounds etc. And we started a nutrition village to feed up children whose weight was going down, and we sponsored programs for chicken raising for eggs etc.
True, that was 40 years ago, but if you are interested in how Africans run rural clinic not just to give out medicine but to treat the underlying problems (nutrition, water, etc) I advise you to check out the videos at Andrew Wefwafwa's site).
As for Prepfar: I predate HIV....We probably had cases when I worked there (people dying of minor infections, two cases of Kaposi sarcoma) but it was not a known disease so no, I didn't know about it until I got home and heard in my National Guard unit about this mysterious STD that was fatal.
However, the hospital where I had worked in Africa, and some of the sisters became active with Prepfar to save lives, and several of our nurses reported family members whose lives were saved by this program.
So again I stress: By diverting the funding to birth control and pushing sexual policies to limit population, the danger is that people will no longer trust these caregivers: They might see them as part of the evil west trying to stop Africans from having babies because of racism.
and of course, such ideas won't just be pushed by locals who remember colonialist racism, but will be believed by religious leaders (Bishops and Muslim leaders). And of course, China will quietly push this idea. Already the Biden administration and the EU is pushing their sexual agenda (gay rights, encourage teenage sex by sex education), and pushing countries to change their local laws.
By the way: African women who have jobs might indeed want to space their babies, and this should be available: But as I pointed out, these organizations have been busy for years, and of course now Mrs Gates is using oodles of money for it.
However, most women in the villages might merely want to space their children. In the past this was done by taboos against genital sex while breast feeding and prolonged breastfeeding. Alas, in urban areas, women working outside the home might find this difficult, hance the need for birth control... however, hormonal birth control leads to decreased breast milk. The birth control shot increases breast milk, but causes vaginal dryness that increases the risk of HIV and other STDs. IUDs result in infections. And local barrier methods are often not used because they are not culturally friendly.
So anyway: You might want to ask yourself why the Biden administration is willing to become unpopular by pushing this type of policy that caused sexual anarchy and destruction of the family in the west. In the more affluent countries, government programs will pick up the slack on those without families, but in poor countries it is the families that are literally the basis of society and the ones to care for the sick, the young, the elderly and their needy members.
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