ABSTRACT
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) estimates that 9 million Africans have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus and that two to three million adult Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) cases are expected in sub-Saharan Africa by the year 2000. Money obligated for condom supplies is spent in the US and the condoms are shipped to Africa, where they are sold or distributed free. The type of assistance the US government is providing to Africa seems to be determined by policy considerations as much as by science, medicine, or public health. AIDS education projects may also be divorced from school health and education services. USAID assistance in the category “health care financing” revolves around financial planning, which is of interest to the multinational pharmaceutical industry. The United Nations Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in September 1994, made clear the US position on the importance of population control.
