Dateline: 06/20/02

President Bush on Wednesday announced his administration's plans to make $500 million available to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS in 12 countries in Africa and two in the Caribbean. 

Noting that the pandemic had already killed over 20 million people worldwide, Bush blamed HIV/AIDS for "devastation that staggers the imagination and shocks the conscience." 

According to the White House, up to one-third of the adult population of sub-Sahara Africa is infected with HIV. Over 90 percent of the world's estimated 40 million HIV sufferers live in the region, where more than 5,000 people a day die of the virus.

"The wasted human lives that lie behind these numbers are a call to action for every person on the planet and for every government," stated President Bush in a Rose Garden speech.

The bulk of the proposed funding would go into efforts to prevent the spread of HIV from infected mothers to their children. Up to 2,000 babies a day are infected with HIV worldwide, during pregnancy, birth or breast feeding. "Most of those infected will die before their 5th birthday," said the president. "The ones who are not infected will grow up as orphans when their parents die of AIDS."

The funding, which must be approved by Congress, would be made available in two phases. The first phase would allocate $200 million during 2002-2003 as part of an emergency spending bill, with the remaining $300 million requested as part of the fiscal year 2004 budget.

How the Funds Would be Spent
President Bush outlined a three-part strategy for using the funds to fight HIV/AIDS:

• "First, in places with stronger health care systems, we will provide voluntary testing, prevention, counseling, and a comprehensive therapy of anti-retroviral medications for both mother and child, beginning before delivery, and continuing after delivery. This combination has proven extremely effective in preventing transmission of the HIV virus."
  
  
• "Second, in places with weaker health care systems, we'll provide testing and counseling, and we will support programs that administer a single dose of nevirapine to the mother at the time of delivery, and at least one dose to the infant shortly after birth. This therapy reduces the chances of infection by nearly 50 percent."
  
  
• "Third, and most importantly, we will make a major effort to improve the health care delivery systems in targeted countries. This will allow more women and babies to receive the comprehensive therapy. It will allow for better and longer treatment and care of all AIDS victims. And it will lead to better health care in general for all the country's citizens."

The proposed program would augment the approximately $1 billion a year the U.S. already contributes to international efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

"In addition, we plan to spend more than $2.5 billion on research and development for new drugs and new treatments," stated Bush. "We've committed $500 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS and other infectious diseases, and we stand ready to commit more as this fund demonstrates its success."