PolitiFact: Do U.S. global AIDS dollars build stability, less violence? Hard to prove
“…PEPFAR got some bipartisan love from two former Senate majority leaders, Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Bill Frist, R-Tenn. In an op-ed in The Hill titled ‘Big-hearted, self-serving and right,’ Daschle and Frist argued that global health aid is in the national interest. … Daschle said that U.S. global AIDS spending helped reduce ‘political instability and violence’ by ’40 percent’ in recipient nations. No one questions that the program did much to ease the burden of disease and helped many sufferers. But there are several reasons the argument that it led to political stability is difficult to make…” (Greenberg, 3/4).