Sketchy AIDS Charity Rolls Back Claims on Web Site — ProPublica

Sketchy AIDS Charity Rolls Back Claims on Web Site

by Christopher Weaver

March 26, 2009, 12:54 p.m. EDT

The Center for AIDS Prevention removed two incorrect pieces of medical advice from their Web site hours after we detailed the charity's shadowy practices in an article Tuesday.

The Web site previously suggested that herbal remedies are an effective replacement for antiretroviral medicines. The suggestion appeared in a testimonial attributed to "A Greatful Doctor."

The testimonial was replaced by an excerpt from a letter describing the "daunting" plight of people with illnesses, attributed to Steve Neely, the center's director.

"Without the often support of many social service organizations such as the Center for AIDS Prevention, case management, and health care providers, or the support of friends and family, many would find themselves alone, rejected and destitute," Neely's letter continues.

The center also deleted a sentence from its advice section on "How to Fight AIDS." The brief article about AIDS prevention concluded, "The best way to have safe sex is to use contraceptive pills or condoms while having sex."

Here is a side-by-side comparison -- using a handy tool called Versionista -- showing the center's homepage before and after the change.

Follow ProPublica

Most Read

Latest Stories from ProPublica

The Chief Prosecutor in Elkhart, Indiana, Is Accused of Misconduct for Making Contradictory Allegations

The Flooding Will Come “No Matter What”

“Uprooted” Wins Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award

After Decades of Imprisoning Patients, Idaho Approves Secure Mental Health Facility

Republish This Story for Free

Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Thank you for your interest in republishing this story. You are are free to republish it so long as you do the following:

You have to credit ProPublica and any co-reporting partners. In the byline, we prefer “Author Name, Publication(s).” At the top of the text of your story, include a line that reads: “This story was originally published by ProPublica.” You must link the word “ProPublica” to the original URL of the story.
If you’re republishing online, you must link to the URL of this story on propublica.org, include all of the links from our story, including our newsletter sign up language and link, and use our PixelPing tag.
If you use canonical metadata, please use the ProPublica URL. For more information about canonical metadata, refer to this Google SEO link.
You can’t edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. (For example, “yesterday” can be changed to “last week,” and “Portland, Ore.” to “Portland” or “here.”)
You cannot republish our photographs or illustrations without specific permission. Please contact [email protected].
It’s okay to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. You can’t state or imply that donations to your organization support ProPublica’s work.
You can’t sell our material separately or syndicate it. This includes publishing or syndicating our work on platforms or apps such as Apple News, Google News, etc.
You can’t republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. (To inquire about syndication or licensing opportunities, contact [email protected].)
You can’t use our work to populate a website designed to improve rankings on search engines or solely to gain revenue from network-based advertisements.
We do not generally permit translation of our stories into another language.
Any website our stories appear on must include a prominent and effective way to contact you.
If you share republished stories on social media, we’d appreciate being tagged in your posts. We have official accounts for ProPublica on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Copy and paste the following into your page to republish:

Current site Current page