This is
interesting, to say the least: the Brazilian government has announced that they rejected a $40 Million aid package from the US government because of the restrictive requirements the US placed on the money.
Because of their ludicrous support of "faith-based" programs, the US government has been placing restrictions on many different forms of foreign aid on moral grounds - primarily in requiring that recipients cannot use US funding to support abortions and contraception. In more recent funding, they've added the requirement that recipients officially condemn prostitution, which is the demand they made in order for Brazil to receive funding.
Brazil has an AIDS treatment and prevention program that is remarkable - medical treatment is free for all citizens who need it (yes, that's including all the new drugs), and through aggressive outreach they've managed to considerably reduce new infection rates in the country. A significant part of their program involves outreach to drug addicts and sex workers. (full disclosure: my Brazilian partner has done quite a bit of work with AIDS groups in Brazil.) As part of their work, they are quite insistent that in order to get drug addicts and sex workers to accept treatment, they absolutely cannot condemn their lifestyle choices.
Brazil's government rejected the demand that they officially condemn prostitution, the US continued to insist, and the government said fine, we'll do without. ($40M is a good pile of cash; in a developing country where minimum wage salary is $200 per month, it's a mountain.) Hopefully, health workers around the world can look at this decision and decide whether such absurd restrictions are worth the money:
Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women's Health Coalition, said: "The importance of the Brazilian government decision can not be overstated."