New York Times: Letters to the Editor: Strategies to Fight HIV
Eran Bendavid, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University

“The article ‘U.S. Push for Abstinence in Africa Is Seen as Failure Against HIV’ (Feb. 27) suggests that the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) dismissed invitations to perform evaluations of its investments in abstinence and faithfulness programs. This was speculation on my part and misrepresents PEPFAR’s commitment to using evidence in designing its strategy. … American investments in HIV treatments have been a positive outlier in the global health world in terms of scale and dedication. I hope that greater emphasis could be placed on learning from this experience so this scale and dedication would be accompanied by success in reaching the people who would benefit the most” (3/9).