The anti-prostitution policy in the US HIV/AIDS program.

T here is much to applaud in the legislation authorizing US foreign assistance for HIV/AIDS (the US Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act -hereafter the Leadership Act). President George W. Bush and Congress passed this landmark legislation in a laudable effort to address the catastrophic HIV/AIDS pandemic. The law has vastly increased US funding for HIV/AIDS programs and helped hundreds of thousands of people gain access to HIV treatment. The prevention strategies in the Leadership Act have proven controversial. This Commentary reviews the health and human rights implications of one of the HIV prevention policies in the law -the "anti-prostitution policy" (APP) -