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Black Leaders, Rights Experts Denounce Gates’ New Contraceptive that May Increase HIV Risk</h2><dl class=""><dd class="">
By Lisa Correnti and Rebecca Oas, Ph.D. </dd></dl>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">WASHINGTON,
DC, October 18 (C-FAM) <u><b>Melinda Gates’ campaign targeting African women
with a new form of the contraceptive</b></u> Depo Provera has <u><b>provoked a
coalition of Black religious leaders and human rights advocates.</b></u> They
are asking the U.S. Congress to stop funding the distribution of the
injectable contraceptive overseas.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">The
leaders, who support abortion and contraception, say <u><b>women of color and
low-income women suffer severe health issues from Depo Provera.</b></u> A new
self-administered version <u><b>puts women at further risk</b></u> as <u><b>it will be
delivered without them being fully informed of the drug’s potential side
effects</b></u>. The contraceptive carries the potential to contract or
transmit HIV at an <a href="http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v2/n10/abs/nm1096-1084.html" target="_blank">eight-fold</a> higher rate.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><u><b>The wife of billionaire Bill Gates</b></u> recently told the <a href="http://c-fam.org/en/issues/global-health/7574-black-leaders-rights-experts-denounce-gates-new-contraceptive-that-may-increase-hiv-risk#" style="text-decoration:underline" id="_GPLITA_0" title="Click to Continue > by CouponDropDown">New York</a>
Times that she championed family planning after meeting with poor women
in developing countries. The women wanted a contraceptive that comes in
a shot, Gates said, because they could not negotiate condom use without
implying that either they or their husbands had AIDS.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Kwame Fosu says Melinda Gates’ claim that women want Depo Provera is “disingenuous.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">“<u><b>No
African woman would agree to being injected if she had full knowledge
of the contraceptives’ dangerous side effects</b></u>,” Fosu told the Friday
Fax. <u><b>Fosu is policy director for the Rebecca Project for Human Rights.</b></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">“In fact,” he continued, “in countries where women are educated on the harmful complications, Depo Provera use is negligible.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Gates’
comments illustrate an on-going conflict between public health
officials’ efforts to contain the AIDS epidemic and family planning
advocates who favor long-acting hormonal contraceptives to prevent
pregnancy. Unlike condoms, <u><b>these methods do nothing to prevent HIV
transmission.</b></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">I<u><b>n
the case of Depo Provera, the risks of HIV transmission actually
increase, </b></u>according to data published in The Lancet.<u><b> </b>The World Health
Organization <a href="http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/family_planning/Hormonal_contraception_and_HIV.pdf" target="_blank">strongly advises</a>
that women using progestogen-only injectable contraception also use
condoms.<b> </b><b>Planned Parenthood – one of the largest international
distributors of Depo Provera – does not recommend condom use nor do they
<a href="http://www.rebeccaproject.org/images/stories/Fact%20Sheets/depo-provera-deadly-reproductive-violence-rebecca-project-for-human-rights-2013.pdf" target="_blank">disclose</a> potential side effects.</b></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Gates,
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Pfizer
Pharmaceuticals, the United Kingdom Department for International
Development (DFID), United Nations Population Fund, and PATH, have spent
billions of dollars to develop a new version of Depo Provera called
Sayana Press: a subcutaneous injection that can be self-administered and
hidden from a spouse. <u><b>A pilot program to reach women in rural areas is
underway in sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia.</b></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">A
briefing last month sponsored by the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus
featured human rights activists requesting Congress stop funding Depo
Provera and enforce mandatory FDA warnings for patient counseling. Fosu
believes the new “Uniject” delivery system of Sayana Press will allow
USAID to “circumvent and violate” these FDA regulations.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">The briefing was co-sponsored by the Rebecca Project, which published a<u><b> <a href="http://www.rebeccaproject.org/images/stories/Fact%20Sheets/depo-provera-deadly-reproductive-violence-rebecca-project-for-human-rights-2013.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>
documenting unethical human experimentation and the racial targeting of
population control programs by the U.S., the Ford and Rockefeller
Foundations, United Nations Population Fund, Planned Parenthood,
Population Council, and the Gates Foundation.</b></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">The
report cites Pfizer’s history of producing harmful contraceptives.
Norplant – pulled from the U.S. after multiple lawsuits – continues to
be distributed in Africa through a licensing agreement with Bayer.
According to <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gatess-4-billion-foray-in-global-family-planning-2012-05-15" target="_blank">WSJ Market Watch</a>, Pfizer stands to make up to $36 billion from Depo Provera.</span></p>
<p><u><b><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Depo
Provera is linked to numerous side effects, including a doubled risk of
breast cancer, stroke, irreversible bone density loss, a reduction in
resistance to infection, unintended sterility, and birth defects such as
congenital heart disease if accidentally injected in a pregnant woman.</span></b></u></p></div>