International family planning funds will be expedited

With a 53-46 vote on February 25, the Senate approved a resolution to speed up the release of funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for its overseas family planning programs. The resolution, which had been passed by the House on February 13 (see RFN VI/2), will make money budgeted for fiscal year 1997 available on March 1, 4 months earlier than originally scheduled. Under the omnibus budget bill approved at the end of September 1996, funding was to have been withheld until July 1--a full 9 months into the fiscal year--unless President Clinton made a finding that the delay was harming the functioning of the US family planning program. Based on a report from USAID, which found that the delay would cause at least 17 programs around the world to suspend their services and result in significant and permanent damage to US population-control efforts, President Clinton issued the finding in support of moving up the release of funds. The Senate did not consider a House-passed provision that would have barred family planning programs that receive US money from providing abortions, even if they paid for the procedures through other sources of funding.

Population control II: The population establishment today

Although population assistance represents a relatively small share of official development assistance, it influences many other aspects of development planning. The organizations that comprise the population establishment have a common purpose--the reduction of population growth in the Third World--but they are not homogeneous and sometimes have conflicting goals and strategies. National governments, multilateral agencies, nongovernmental organizations, foundations, academic centers, and pressure groups all contribute to creating and sustaining what has become a virtual population control industry. Through scholarships, travel grants, awards, and favorable publicity, Third World elites have been encouraged to join the population establishment. The World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.N. Fund for Population Activities have pursued explicit strategies for pressuring Third World governments to design and implement population policies, most recently in Africa.

Cambodia seeks help for AIDS patients

Cambodia's National AIDS Program (NAP) appealed for help to fight the spread of HIV. The appeal followed figures issued by the NAP that an estimated 120,000 Cambodians have been infected with HIV, according to Hor Bun Leng, NAP. In August 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) revised the estimate of Cambodian HIV cases to 30,000 from the previous figure of 5000. The figure was revised upwards again in November 1995 to between 50,000 and 90,000. "The estimated figure for HIV-infected persons in 1996 is 120,000 cases and for people suffering from [advanced] AIDS ... we [have] estimate[d] a least 1000 cases," Hor Bun Leng said. "It's a very, very serious problem. We know how to handle it, how to get the information out to the people, and how to get success, but we need more money--we need funding from any donor agency which could help," he said. The NAP believes that 40,000 people or more could be AIDS patients by the turn of the century. "The WHO says we should spend at least $1 per person for the anti-AIDS campaign. In Thailand the government spent $80 million for a population of about 65 million people. But I have 10 million people and only between $200,000 and $300,000," Hor Bun Leng said. "[In 1995] we only heard about AIDS cases in Phnom Penh, but now we get reports from the provincial level throughout the country," he said. He said most provincial hospitals report new AIDS cases every month. "We don't know how to curb the HIV/AIDS problem. We need money for educational material, but we don't have enough financial resources."