TORONTO, ON, Canada (UPI) -- The Bush administration`s 'ABC' AIDS-prevention strategy has received mixed reviews at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
The $15 billion ABC program, which emphasizes abstinence until marriage, being faithful, and condom use, has met with mixed results in different countries, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
A survey of 1,400 Kenyan teenagers found that 15 percent of the girls and slightly less than half of the boys had engaged in sexual intercourse. Half of the total teenagers could explain the importance of abstinence, 23 percent could correctly define the concept of being faithful, and only 13 percent could explain why condoms are important. About half of the surveyed teens said condoms were unreliable, immoral, or designed to allow for the transmission of AIDS.
However, a Philadelphia suggested that 'abstinence only' sex-education is more likely to persuade black junior high school students to avoid sex than a curriculum involving other safe-sex techniques.
