Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - December 4, 2003
Headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, the team has embarked on a trip that, in seven days, is expected to tour Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda, four of the most AIDS-ravaged nations in the world. It's an impressive and eclectic, 80-member entourage that includes former Clinton administration U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, former Rep. Ron Dellums of Oakland, AIDS policy-makers, a movie mogul and representatives from three of the world's largest drug firms.
The idea, Thompson says, is to view the scope of the disease. With two-thirds of the world's 40 million HIV/AIDS cases -- or 27 million people -- living in Africa, the delegates have certainly gone to the right place.
But they're arriving with empty pockets, leaving behind the U.S. dollars promised and needed to mount an effective anti-AIDS campaign.
During his State of the Union address, President Bush pledged $15 billion over five years to fight AIDS, correctly declaring that there was no time to waste. But after Congress approved $3 billion for the first year of AIDS funding, Bush said it was more than could be used and, despite evidence otherwise, chopped it to $2 billion. He then reduced the annual U.S. contribution to the U.N.'s Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria from to $350 million to $200 million, again confounding experts who see the fund as the best vehicle for attack.
This year, in Africa alone, some 2.3 million people will die of AIDS, many because they can't afford the drugs to keep them alive. It is to be hoped that Thompson's group will grasp that message, and its urgency, then push Bush to keep his promise.
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