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.
Yep! You are correct. Too bad most people don't understand this.
It's a fact that Americans are far more educated on the cause of AIDS and how to prevent it. What's more, the American medical system is the most advanced in the world; Africa's is one of the least advanced.
You think my claim isn't an easily foreseeable one?
;-)
g
Amazing...the Ignorance so common throughout the Globe is the Primary Reason America oughtta...
Get the US Outta the UN and Get the UN Outta the US!!
FReegards...MUD
Brilliant because it was a Republican President who proposed it. Had Bill Clinton proposed this we would've heard howls of protest.
The SOTU address had many points with which I agree; this was decidedly not one of them.
I disagree. Would you mind covering my share of the $15,000,000,000? Please make out a check to me for about $150 to cover it.
AIDS is one of the most easily prevented diseases on Earth. In fact, a person has to engage in activities that most of us would consider extraordinary to contract it. Sure there are exceptions to this rule, but AIDS is an epidemic for reasons in accordance with this rule, not because of the exceptions to it.
I’m just relieved that Bush didn’t announce that he’s giving an additional $15,000,000,000 to the population of some other continent because they can not control their impulse to hit themselves in the head with hammers. - Concussions everywhere. Oh the humanity!
As to your comment, "Another liberal talking point pulled from under their feet!"
All I can say is, at this rate, we’ll morhp into Liberals after another trillion dollars or so. What a deal.
Agreed. Party before anything, by both parties. It's about power, it's not about principles of governance. It's how we got into this mess, but people keep buying into it anyway.
Blacks will vote for Bush's democrat opponent by a 90-10 percent margin, regardless of what he does. This is because the democrats will always promise the black voting bloc more money than any rebublican.
-- Liberals have had the rug pulled out from under them on two fronts, blacks and AIDS
How so? They'll simply respond by saying Bush should've allocated more money, and under their plan they will.
It hasn't already happened? I don't see any hand wringing about the enormous expansion of socialistic medicare entitlements on this site so far, but maybe I missed the threads.
Aside from that, given the similarity of content and thought processes in the Bush and Clinton speeches, the question becomes, is Bill Clinton writing George Bush's material and doing his thinking for him, or is Bush writing Clinton's material? It's reasonable to wonder, how alike are Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton? At the least, Bush is adding support and dignity to Clinton's position. Clinton is no longer the problem, Bush is."
Neither are most posters on FR.
I think the constitutional mandate this falls under is providing for the common defense...
What a joke! The Constitution is subject to "interpretation" eh? Don't "uphold" it, interpret it. The rest of your reply is all supposition.
Woudl you rather they are lifted up and helped to their feet by US, or by those who would use them against us?
They're dying! How much of a threat can they be if they're bedridden?
In return, we get a continent more stable than it has ever been in recorded history, a decline in the influence of our enemies, and the satisfaction of knowing we did something worthwhile to help our fellow man...
MORE supposition. You've given nothing that is factual, just opinions.
BTW, which continent? Ours? I think not. It isn't the federal government's job to make any area, much less a whole continent, "stable" except for the United States of America!
Do we get material rewards? Probably not, but that's not what life is about anyway.
It's all so you can "feel good"? What a load of BS! Donate your own money if you want to do something, quit allowing the taking of my money for something I don't agree with. If they all die off how can thay be a threat to anyone?
Unbelievable!
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