Journal - Book Report/Review Example

The Politics of PEPFAR: The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief The project of PEPFAR serves well as an example of good intentions. Being founded for the sake of helping AIDS-positive people, it ended up being arena for clashes of politic interests of contradicting parties; place for promoting U.S. monopoly on spreading not only certain types of drugs, but also - ideology and even religion; and, of course, a profitable business. This project can’t be called a failure as it, disregarding all the doubtable issues, has already helped millions of people, and continues helping even now.

But still there are a plenty of troubles inside of it, that have to be helped before the project would be able to help people efficiently. One of which is stressing the importance of the issue once again, for it to be operated more thoroughly, without digressing to mere P.R. company. “So far, AIDS funding has withstood competition from the war on terrorism and the need to aid tsunami and Hurricane Katrina victims, but future funding is far from guaranteed under presidents who might stake less of their personal political capital and moral commitment on the issue” (Dietrich 282).

AIDS is an international problem, and it needs to be solved at the international level. That means not only spreading one’s influence, especially by means of monopolizing help and treatment, but also to cooperation, uniting efforts and exchanging experience. Still, cooperation also requires responsibility from each of cooperating parties, for efficiency only can be gained by the means of coordination. Example of ABC-program shows, that discordant actions can raise additional troubles. In addition, cooperation itself needs to be resolved for ideological differences.

Because cooperating while one party only works under condition of abortion minimizing, and the other needs cooperation while supporting abortion - would be troublesome.It can be seen, that the project of PEPFAR itself is still developing: from one side there are new ways to search for funds and promote the idea of helping AIDS-positive people, new ways to support AIDS-positive people, to make treatment more available, new ways to avoid being infected. From the other side, new possibilities raise new attempts to benefit from the program on both political and financial aspects.

“PEPFAR will likely be reauthorized since it has proven successful and retains possible political benefits in helping America’s global image and giving President Bush a humanitarian legacy to point to, but political disputes over implementation will intensify”(Dietrich 291). Works cited Dietrich, John W. "The politics of PEPFAR: the president’s emergency plan for AIDS relief." Ethics & International Affairs 21.3 (2007): 277-292.