USA A World Leader!
In religiously-based stupidity. Luckily, the Europeans, who are more prone to economically-based stupidity, are leading the way in urging African nations to get behind condom use as the most effective way to battle AIDs. Sarah Boseley writes in the Guardian:

...the statement from 22 European Union member states, released at a meeting under the U.K. presidency in London Wednesday, calls on developing world governments to use every prevention tool, from condoms to clean needles to sexual health clinics, in a bid to slow down the spread of HIV. UNAIDS' latest figures show 40 million people are now infected, and the rate is rising as fast as ever.

"We, the European Union, firmly believe that, to be successful, HIV prevention must utilize all approaches known to be effective, not implementing one or a few selective actions in isolation," the statement says.

The international development secretary, Hilary Benn, told the Guardian that the evidence had shown what worked, from tackling stigma to supplying condoms and clean needles. "It is very important that those messages are heard loud and clear by everybody," he said.

Asked whether the U.K. disagreed with the U.S. emphasis on abstinence, he said: "Abstinence works if people can abstain, but I don't think people should die because they have sex. We need to make sure people have all the means [of prevention] at their disposal -- condoms and clean needles. It includes education and access to sexual and reproductive health services. We are very clear about that."

In August the U.N. secretary general's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, accused the United States of "doing damage to Africa" by cutting funds for condoms in Uganda while promoting abstinence. "There is no doubt the condom crisis in Uganda is being driven by" U.S. policies, said Lewis. "To impose a dogma-driven policy that is fundamentally flawed is doing damage to Africa."