The War Against AIDS

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

The War Against AIDS

San Francisco Chronicle (12.20.01) - Thursday, December 20, 2001

"Amid all the high-volume debate about terrorism, Washington is quietly taking action on another global security problem - AIDS. ...Yesterday, House and Senate negotiators finally agreed on appropriations for AIDS spending for the 2002 fiscal year. Program support for individual countries will get $475 million, and $200 million more will go to the new Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, recently created by the United Nations. Total US AIDS spending has now tripled in the past two years. Last week, the House passed an authorization bill to raise those spending levels further - $535 million for bilateral programs and $750 million for the Global Fund - as a target for 2003 appropriations.

"Not surprisingly, many leaders of this congressional effort come from the Bay Area -Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, who co-sponsored the authorization bill, and Rep Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, who has long championed the cause. A crucial role has also been played by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. A welcome surprise was Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, who did crucial work in persuading Republican conservatives to support AIDS funding without adding onerous anti-family-planning clauses.

"Of course, much more money is needed, especially for the Global Fund.... It's utterly crucial that the United States and other wealthy nations step up to the plate with more money for the Global Fund. Only if it is fully financed can it balance the two competing yet equally necessary halves of AIDS work - prevention for those still healthy (condoms, education and overall health care) and treatment for those infected (including expensive anti-retroviral medicines).

"In the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans alike are proposing an emergency $1 billion appropriation for the Global Fund. It's an excellent idea that President Bush should support. With more than 40 million people infected worldwide and more than 3 million dying annually, the AIDS pandemic is destroying entire nations.

"America's war on AIDS should be as resolute as its war on terrorism."
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