Q: What is the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003?
A: In May the president signed into law an ambitious effort by the United States to address the humanitarian crisis spreading throughout Africa and the Caribbean. In January President Bush proposed a ‘work of mercy’ in his State of the Union Address and asked Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years to combat the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. The number of people living with the disease worldwide is 36.1 million. In Africa alone, nearly 30 million people have the virus, including three million children age 15 and under. To compare, approximately 900,000 people are afflicted with HIV/AIDS in the United States. In fiscal year 2000, more than $10.8 billion federal dollars were spent on patient care in the U.S., averaging $1,359 per patient each month. A significant treatment gap exists for those suffering from the disease in poor countries. I’m pleased the Republican-led Congress worked quickly to advance these life-saving dollars in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Once again, it puts the United States in a leadership position to coax other industrialized nations to join the march towards eradicating this devastating disease from the face of the earth. It’s reminiscent of the historical leadership role the U.S. has assumed to fight the global spread of other infectious diseases threatening public health, including polio and small pox.
Q: How will the money be used to stop the spread of this disease?
A: The new law triples the U.S. commitment to international AIDS assistance and will be used to prevent, treat and care for those living in 14 poor countries in Africa and the Caribbean most devastated by this disease. Specifically, federal dollars would be used to buy and deliver medicine, train health workers, build and equip clinics, train child care workers to attend to AIDS orphans, conduct HIV testing and provide home care. The disease has killed more than 21 million of the more than 60 million people it has infected, leaving behind 11 million orphans. And understand the children of Africa risk not only the premature loss of their parents. Because of the AIDS epidemic, a child born today in sub-Sahara Africa has a life expectancy of 47 years. As the president noted at the bill’s signing, Africa is a continent in crisis. Federal funding authorized by the new law also would be channeled to help prevent seven million new infections by deploying voluntary testing and counseling. And it would help treat at least two million HIV-infected people with groundbreaking anti-viral drug therapies, including treatments to lower the risk of pregnant women transmitting the disease to their babies.