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.
Foreign aid in the name of "compassion"--Christian or otherwise--is a non-starter. Government is in the justice business and it is in the defense business. It is not in the Christian charity business. That is the business of private individuals, and I would encourage you to send your own money directly to AIDS relief entities in Africa if that is your wont.
But Arnefufkin's post identifies appropriate and legitimate (Constitutional) justifications for this kind of aid. That such aid would also alleviate personal suffering is a welcome and fitting additional benefit.
I'm a veteran and all the veterans I know are receiving medical care as needed.
No. It's my impression of the individual I was addressing. It is also my impression of some of the other people I frequently see trying to "outconservative" one another around here.
No your a weird little Canadian anti freeper fag who gets off on attacking people without bothering to refute their points. This ain't gonna save anybody its just going to make a few African thugs richer and even if it did its being wasted on a disease which is by and large brought upon those who get it by their own folly. Not your tax money anyway. Now I could sorta understand pissing away money like this if it were buying votes but helping Africans is not going to win any African-American votes either.
Oh, he says he's a dead ringer for "James Bond". So...who wants to be the one to tell him Carroll O'Connor never played Bond?
And I get called 'liberal'???? If what you said isn't 'liberal', then 'Liberal' has no meaning... <
The problem with American foreign aid is that it is currently being embezzled by institutions and criminals with no fealty to helping the people and societies toward which we target our generosity, and thus there is no ROI in American security and prosperity, or our God-ordained obligation to humanity. Foreign aid, as operated by the UN and the International mobsters, is being used in direct contravention to our interests.
If the AIDS program bypasses these criminal conspiracies, that's a win for humanity and for America's security. A program of this moral priority is untouchable, no despot or corrupt bureaucracy can interfere, and the power of despots and corrupt international bureaucracies will be eroded. That's a win-win.
My rights come from God. I choose which rights and prerogatives that I cede to my political institutions and leaders. If I think foreign aid is a good strategy to enhance my safety and security, and that of my tribe - I'll enable my Reps to use our American process to make it happen. When I think foreign aid is no longer a tool to promote my individual or group benefit, I'll work to yank it through the same process. The Constitution is primarily about the processes, consensus and safeguards to ensure MY individual political priorities have widespread support and wisdom. This AIDS initiative will have overwhelming American support, and if it is designed, funded, judicially reviewed in a Constitutionally legitimate way and executed in a logistically ethical and effective way, it'll be Constitutional on its face. The debate whether the initiative is good policy and maximizes American long-term interest is another debate entirely, and one worth having. There is no inherent Constitutional issue here.
ROFL !!!!!! I'd do the honors, but I considering where his head is, I'll pass.
You always were the smart one. ; )
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