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.
Brilliant court argument, tpaine. I haven't seen a presentation like yours since Judge Wopner presided over the "Case of The Puppy Stained Carpet":
"Damn right my dog DID crap on his carpet, but "Biggiesmall dog" pissed and pooed on the carpet of EVERY new house he visited. D'MeetRie should have seen it if he wasn't all the time high and drunk, and he shoulda known that and not let the damn dog into his crib if he didn't want his carpeet destroyed. Not to mention how bad that man over there is in the BED-ROOM your honor ..."
"Everybody else just deals with it. I just let my new boyfriend beat the mutt and told him to leave him off at the mall lot anyway, so it isn't even my dog anymore. I rest my case."
Ya gotta know when to rest the case. It's a fine line between clever and stupid, tpaine, and you've always been firmly on one side of that line.
That would be a fetching forehead tattoo some day.
Hottie: "So ... we all NEED to know ... what does that number on your forehead mean?"
Freeper Reelin' her in: "It's whatever you want it to mean, kitten. Call me M18436 for short ... all my close friends at the head injury clinic do ... "
Sublime. The boys at the NSA are thinking about running the algorithms right now ... but there's a "too dull to fear" option decided.
Grubs, roots and berries. That's the ticket.
I guess I'll never be a Vegan, because I prefer to eat the grubs.
Yeah, you are so F'n stressed. Do yourself a favor, walk over to your local library or find a website that has photographic journal of America in REAL DEPRESSION, circa 1933-5.
Get some perspective. It's becoming unusually annoying dealing with you people.
How do you feel about CFR? Is it Constitutional? If not, why was it signed into law?
You obviously have no understanding whatsoever of the origin of your blessings.
Newsflash........God has no nationality. Believe it or not, he is not an American. Furthermore, everything on the face of this earth belongs to Him. He has so abundantly blessed our country and we do have a great responsibility to our fellow man.
I'm not a lover of foreign aid and I have many objections to over taxation, but........some sacrifices are humane, noble, and ultimately benefit us anyway.
Above all remember that everything YOU have is the product of Mercy and Love. You didn't earn being born here; you were blessed with it.
Please do not personalize the discussion. Personal attacks are a violation of the posting guidelines.
Did you know that there is no confirmation of a positive test in Africa. Here they confirm in 5 or 6 ways. The fact is that AIDS is diagnosed by a complex of symptoms that in the past accompanied diseases of poverty and poor sanitary systems. Now diseases such as TB,malaria,dysentery,malnutrion are no longer the scourge they once were. As one African woman aptly put it "No one dies of 'running tummy' anymore,now everyone dies of AIDS".
If you go over to the Smoky Backroom,there is a thread about e-mailing Bush,the last 20 or 30 posts will give you good information and sources for this info.
Good point, saradippity. I believe you're right. I do believe that anyone suffering should be helped - as in the example of the Good Samaritan. But as someone who lived in Africa for some time (and loved it), it irks me that we seem to have forgotten all the terrible health scourges that plague that continent, outside of AIDs. And it is more irksome, since AIDs is completely and totally preventable by behavior, whereas most diseases are not.
While that's very true, I'm not sure it's a reason to give taxpayer funds to Africa. If people feel strongly about the AIDS issue, why can't they donate their money directly?
Perhaps not, but it's a judgment call. We can't be all things to all people and may not always make the best choice. It may simply be a matter of opinion.
However, there may be a strong spiritual (Divine intervention, if you will) push behind the choice of Africa. I understand that they have the greatest growth of new Christians today. Perhaps this is a special blessing. Who knows? God DOES work in mysterious ways.
Some things are too obvious for anyone to miss.
Thanks for doing my thinking for me.
I try to help whenever possible. You ought to give it a go and try to do it yourself. One never knows.....you might succeed.
I think it should be a matter of the Constitution...
I am not even close to a Constitutional scholar and am not qualified to speak in depth on it, but I don't see a conflict.
Please do not get me wrong. I am not an out of control bleeding heart. I simply believe that some matters of mercy and care should transcend continental divisions and it may be just and proper.
Lots of interesting points of view on this thread, and lots of brass knuckles to go with them.
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