So now Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson is going to head the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. From the Reuters story:

AIDS activists said the decision was ironic. They have criticized President Bush for his decision to give the fund less than requested. In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Bush announced a $15 billion, five-year plan to fight AIDS in Africa and Haiti, but designated only $1 billion of it to go to the fund....

"Secretary Thompson will be chosen to chair the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS a day after a generous presidential AIDS initiative largely sideswiped the Global Fund," Asia Russell, director of international policy at AIDS lobby group Health GAP, said in a statement.

"If the U.S. is going to buy the chairmanship, they could at least use real money," she added.

A few highlights of Thompson's tenure as HHS secretary:

From July 2001:

Government report on condoms stresses abstinence

A draft government report on the effectiveness of condoms says there's "insufficient" evidence to say that they guard against sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs, other than HIV and gonorrhea in men.

Critics fear that Bush administration will use the report, obtained Thursday by USA TODAY, to bolster its support for federally funded "abstinence only" sexual education programs, which restrict schools from teaching children about other methods of protection.

Last month, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson awarded an additional $17 million for abstinence only education programs, now in all 50 states....

From May of last year:

US Pushes Sex Abstinence at UN Children's Summit

The United States on Wednesday stressed sexual abstinence as part of its vision of a better life for children at the opening session of a U.N. global summit on young people.

Listing "healthy behaviors and right choices" for children, Health Secretary Tommy Thompson said U.S. efforts have included "strengthening close parent-child relationships, encouraging the delay of sexual activity and supporting abstinence education programs."

"As President Bush has said, abstinence is the only sure way of avoiding sexually transmitted disease, premature pregnancy and the social and personal difficulties attendant to nonmarital sexual activity," Thompson said....

From last November:

Removal of Web info concerns Democrats

Valuable scientific information is being stricken from government Web sites because it does not support the Bush administration's political agenda, a dozen House Democrats have charged.

In recent months, agencies that are part of the Department of Health and Human Services have removed information related to condoms, HIV and abortion from some of their Web sites, say the Democrats, led by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

The disappearance of material from Web sites operated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute, both part of HHS, prompted Waxman and 11 colleagues to question "the administration's commitment to the tradition of scientific excellence and science-based decision-making at HHS."

In a letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, the group complained about the removal of three items: National Cancer Institute information debunking the claim that abortions increase the risk of breast cancer; a CDC fact sheet stating that condoms are effective in stopping the spread of HIV; and a CDC report that described programs deemed effective in preventing tobacco use, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among young people....

Not encouraging.