The United Nations' special envoy for HIV and AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, has accused the United States of bowing to pressure from religious groups and promoting abstinence only programmes in Uganda to prevent HIV infection.

Uganda has been one of Africa's success stories in terms of HIV prevention. The rate of transmission of HIV declined from 15% a year in 1991 to 5% in 2001. One of the generally accepted reasons for the success has been President Yoweri Museveni's acknowledgment of the epidemic …