What happened to Mark Dybul?

Ambassador Mark Dybul was the US Global AIDS Coordinator, responsible for managing US foreign assistance on HIV/AIDS. His office was OGAC, the office of the US global AIDS coordinator. Their work included both the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, and the distribution of money through USAID and other US government donors for HIV/AIDS programming. OGAC was not well-loved within the US government. Their brief over all HIV money meant that they were taking turf away from existing players, and Amb. Dybul was famously difficult to work with. (Full disclosure: I used to work for an office at the US State Department that cooperated with OGAC. I haven't met him, but I've been to meetings he also attended.)

Dybul sent a note around in early January, stating that he'd been asked to stay on in office into the new administration. Some people saw this as a praiseworthy effort to ensure continuity of an important program. Others saw it as a missed opportunity. Dybul has been a controversial figure. Both openly gay and socially conservative, he has supported a number of restrictive rules regarding how PEPFAR funding could be used. You can count me in with those who were disappointed. I'd love to see the whole office of OGAC dissolved, and AIDS coordination given back to USAID, and I didn't think Dybul was the person to oversee that.

Then, on January 21^st, everything changed. Dybul was asked to resign.

So, what happened? Rumors and responses are all over the place.

Kate and Amanda at Wronging Rights are pretty excited to see Dybul go. They make the excellent point that pouring a bunch of money into bad HIV/AIDS programs isn't going to get you too far. (Wronging Rights, by the way, is my secret model for this blog. They have an amazing ability to talk about serious things in an entertaining, accessible way. So if you ever think I am being too flip about serious health issues, blame them.)

Michael Gerson thinks we're all extremists and weasels. I disagree with him on almost every point. To be more specific, I don't think that "(Dybul) was recognized as a great humanitarian physician -- a man of faith and conscience -- almost universally respected among legislators, AIDS activists, foreign leaders and health experts," or that "Mark Dybul...sleeps well in the knowledge that he helped save millions of lives -- an experience his critics will never share." Many of his most vocal critics are professionals in the field of AIDS work, and have impeccable experience and credentials. Lastly, my mother played competitive badminton, and she says it's a brutal and cut-throat sport.

I think RH Reality Check has some of the most interesting posts. They call for an open process to choose the new Global Aids Coordinator, suggesting that the AIDS community rally behind specific candidates. They also express disdain for current PEPFAR policies:

at a conference in Abuja, Nigeria where it was suggeted by PEPFAR-funded faith based groups that these couples, rather than using condoms, simply "find other means of expressing marital love than through physical affection....for the rest of their lives."

And, lastly, claim to have found the smoking gun. "Dybul was found on the Hill lobbying for a more restrictive interpretation of the PEPFAR conscience clause than currently exists, with the intention of placating the Catholic Church." I have no idea where RH Reality Check gets their information, but it's an answer that would fit the situation.