Aug 22, 2003  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

An advocate for fighting AIDS through promoting sexual abstinence and fidelity along with an expert on AIDS programs for minority groups were named by President Bush in July as new members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

The president appointed another new member to the AIDS advisory panel who is known for his strong advocacy of “traditional” public health methods for preventing AIDS, including mandatory contact tracing and partner notification.

Edward C. Green, one of the three new appointees, is a senior research scientist at the Harvard University School of Public Health and a medical anthropologist. Green, a recognized expert on global AIDS issues who has specialized in AIDS in African nations, told a Congressional committee earlier this year that he supports the so-called “ABC” approach to AIDS prevention in Africa. The approach calls on people considered at risk for HIV infection to “abstain, be faithful, or use condoms.”

But an anthropology professor from the State University of New York, who knows Green through anthropology circles, said Green has recently called condom promotion “a waste of time and money” and has backed abstinence-only and “fidelity-only” programs for Africa.

“It is likely that he will use his position on the Advisory Council to support abstinence/fidelity-only programs and oppose condom promotion in the United States as well,” said anthropology professor Douglas Feldman.

Green could not be reached by press time. Carl Schmid, a gay Republican activist, disputed claims that Green opposes condom-related programs. Schmid pointed to Green’s March 20 testimony before a House subcommittee on health, in which he acknowledged that condom programs should be a part of AIDS prevention strategies, along with the encouragement of sexual abstinence and fidelity.

NMAC appointment praised
In addition to Green, Bush selected Benny Primm, a New York City physician and chair of the National Minority AIDS Council, to PACHA.
NMAC advocates on behalf of HIV prevention and treatment programs for gays of color, among other groups. AIDS and gay rights activists have praised Primm, who also specializes in substance-abuse treatment programs as a means of preventing the spread of HIV, for his sensitivity to the gay community.

Bush’s third appointee to PACHA, Franklyn Judson, a Denver, Colo., physician and chief of infectious disease services for the Denver Health Medical Center, is an advocate for using traditional public health methods for curtailing the spread of HIV.

Similar to Tom Coburn, the physician and former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, Judson favors mandatory contact tracing and partner notification for people who test positive for HIV. Judson, Coburn, and other public health “traditionalists” say AIDS has been improperly exempted from disease management used to fight other diseases, such as tuberculosis and syphilis.

AIDS activists have said the stigma and discrimination associated with AIDS makes it difficult to employ such methods for HIV prevention. Critics say such methods would likely drive people with HIV underground and discourage them from getting tested.

Coburn and Joe McIlhaney, an Austin, Texas physician and PACHA member, have called on PACHA to adopt a strongly worded resolution urging the Bush administration to push traditional methods to curtail HIV. But sources familiar with PACHA said the majority of PACHA members balked at Coburn and McIlhaney’s proposal during closed-door PACHA subcommittee meetings in July. The full membership was expected to vote on a watered down version of the resolution at a future meeting.

MORE INFO
Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
www.pacha.gov