Posted on 01/29/2003 7:57:13 AM PST by TLBSHOW
Bush Asks for $15 Billion to Fight AIDS in Africa
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush, under fire from AIDS groups for what they call his neglect of the epidemic, asked Congress Tuesday to triple AIDS spending in Africa and Haiti to $15 billion over five years.
The announcement, made in his annual State of the Union Address, took AIDS campaigners by surprise, but they quickly both welcomed the plan and expressed skepticism about it.
"I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years, including nearly $10 billion in new money, to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean," Bush said.
"This comprehensive plan will prevent 7 million new AIDS infections, treat at least 2 million people with life-extending drugs and provide humane care for millions of people suffering from AIDS and for children orphaned by AIDS," Bush added.
On its Internet web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov, the White House said the plan would target Botswana, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
It said the plan calls for the United States to work with private groups and governments to "put in place a comprehensive plan for diagnosing, preventing and treating AIDS."
Stephen Lewis, the United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, welcomed what he called "the first dramatic signal from the U.S. administration that it is now ready to confront the pandemic and to save or prolong millions of lives."
"It opens the floodgates of hope. Most importantly, it issues a challenge to every other member of the G7 to follow suit," he said in South Africa after a tour of the region.
The Physicians for Human Rights, which campaigns on a range of issues from land mines to HIV, last week urged Bush to increase global AIDS spending to $3.5 billion a year.
"This is totally unexpected," John Heffernan, a spokesman for the group, said in a telephone interview. "We applaud it. It really is an extraordinary commitment that clearly shows that the United States is serious about combating AIDS."
The Global AIDS Alliance welcomed the news but worried that the Bush administration could be competing with existing AIDS funds, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The United States has been accused of not putting its fair share into the Fund.
"In the (White House) fact sheet it said only $1 billion of the 10 billion in new money will go to the Global Fund," said Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. "We are very concerned that will leave the fund vastly underfunded and undermine its success."
A SLOW START?
Zeitz also said it looked like the program would start out slowly, with just $2 billion allocated for next year.
The International Association for Physicians in AIDS Care said it would closely watch what would be done with the money, if Congress approved it. "The devil is in the details," said Scott Wolfe, a spokesman for the group. But he also strongly welcomed the move, adding, "We call on other global leaders to step up and demonstrate similar commitments."
More than 36 million people are infected with the virus that causes AIDS -- 25 million in Africa alone. The United Nations predicts AIDS will kill 70 million people in the next 20 years unless rich nations step up efforts.
Bush noted this. "There are whole countries in Africa where more than one-third of the adult population carries the infection," he said. "More than 4 million require immediate drug treatment. Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS victims -- only 50,000 -- are receiving the medicine they need."
There is no cure for AIDS but a cocktail of expensive drugs known as anti-retrovirals can keep disease at bay. Campaigners have been angered that such drugs are available in rich nations but not to the countries hardest hit by the epidemic.
"AIDS can be prevented," Bush said. "Anti-retroviral drugs can extend life for many years. And the cost of those drugs has dropped from $12,000 a year to under $300 a year, which places a tremendous possibility within our grasp."
The new Senate majority leader, Tennessee Republican Bill Frist, nodded and smiled as Bush spoke. Frist, a medical doctor, does frequent volunteer work in Africa.
"It's unprecedented. It is huge. And of everything he said tonight, it has the capacity to save more lives in this country I would say, but also globally, than anything else said," Frist told CNN.
I am too!!!
Its not our business. If the AIDs doesn't get most of their population then the economic repercussions of Islam and Communism will. Why should 15 billion in American tax money be spent so Mugabe can have a new Ferrari?
And this is supposed to make me feel better?
It is.
Why do people who call themselves "biblewonks" display such hardness of heart ?
Perhaps because that's all they are - wonks - all head knowledge, no heart knowledge.
Wait a minute. Since when did the taxpayers of America become the enemies of the president?
It is our money, if we want to donate it to Africa then there is nothing stopping us from doing so. The money he’s giving to Africa is our money. He is essentially saying he knows better how to use our money than we do. I don’t like this at all.
That's your opinion. Most of the rest of America believe it is.
If the AIDs doesn't get most of their population then the economic repercussions of Islam and Communism will.
Such smugness in a person your age is revolting.
No wonder women hate your guts.
PISSED AWAY, Indeed! The epidemic is spreading because the people are uninformed and uneducated. It's not our job to "change" them. Let there governments pay for it. I'm sick of being the world's welfare system. NO NO NO to world government and socialism.
LOL! I think your arguing with people that are on the government payroll, and will be given jobs in this new, massive give away of American wealth.
Then don't vote for Bush.
Your damn right. Please keep directing this to the new Republicans of the new world order.
Oh I suppose I should just become one of those idealistic deluded communist. Okay let me get my Che hat on and the Mao underwear.
Down with capitalism. Peace, land, bread. Tax cuts are a scam to exploit the working class. 9/11 was caused by our support of Israel. No justice, no peace, no justice, no peace.
Short of a cure or vaccine, the epidemic won't be stopped until Africans stop being sexually promiscuous. Condoms won't help either, just slow the progress of the epidemic. Only Uganda, with its stress on abstinence until marriage, has had significant success in reducing the rate of new AIDs cases. Of course, Bush knows all of this. He's putting up the money to help those who were not so smart and got the virus (including children). But he has no illusions about stopping the spread of the virus. He's just waiting for common sense to prevail. He knows if you speak common sense now, you'll be attacked. So we'll be compassionate, and save common sense for another day.
Maybe it is well spent, maybe it isn't. However, Bush shouldn't be able to give our money away like that. We should get an additional tax cut of 15 billion and let us decide what we want to do with our own money, not let the president make that decision for us.
You're right, Joe. Go hungry because your crops fail and there are no rabid activists to send you money from the US. Go out and cheat on your wife and have sex with 10 women and get AIDS - and you'll get a check from the American taxpayer to pay for your medications.
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