Wasington File - February 23, 2004
Charlene Porter, Washington File Staff Writer

"Today the money hits the table," said U.S. Secretary of Health Tommy G. Thompson at a Washington briefing hosted by Secretary of State Colin Powell. "This administration has made an unprecedented commitment to fight global AIDS. ... No government has ever invested the time, the energy and the resources as the United States has under President George W. Bush."

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Randall L. Tobias said the aid is being specifically targeted to countries where it is urgently needed for disease prevention, treatment and care.

"With just this first round of funds, an additional 50,000 people living with HIV/AIDS will begin to receive treatment, and that will nearly double the number of people currently receiving treatment in all of sub-Saharan Africa," said Tobias. At the same time, he said the money will be targeted to provide care for 60,000 children orphaned by AIDS, and will allow the dissemination of disease-prevention messages to an estimated 500,000 young people.

The release of this new assistance was but one milestone in the implementation of the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief which will distribute $15 billion in assistance over five years. As required by law, Tobias and his staff sent Congress a 100-page report detailing the strategy for enacting this comprehensive effort. Tobias said one important element in the plan will be to direct the increased assistance to programs and organizations that can already point to a successful record of delivering services to people who need them.

"Our intent has been to move as quickly as possible in order to bring immediate relief to those suffering the devastation of AIDS. By initially concentrating on scaling up existing programs, that is exactly what we believe we are able to do," Tobias said.

The countries that will be receiving assistance are Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Collectively, these countries are home to about 50 percent of the world's 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS. In authorizing the plan, Congress also ordered that a 15th country, located in a region other than Africa or the Caribbean, be selected for inclusion in the program. Tobias anticipates that announcement will be made soon.

Those nations most severely hit by the pandemic are receiving targeted assistance through the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, but officials point out that the plan also includes a $5 billion appropriation over its five-year implementation period for bilateral assistance to more than 100 other countries.

The strategic approach for maximizing effectiveness of the program also emphasizes the importance of integrating assistance from various sources, and is directed to different sectors in the receiving nations. Andrew Natsios, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), who also participating in the February 23 briefing, pointed to his agency's longstanding food assistance programs as an example.

"We're seeing very high rates of malnutrition when there is not supposed to be any famine. ... There's no drought, there's no war going on. It's a function of the able-bodied folks not being able to farm," said Natsios. In response, USAID is integrating food programs with disease monitoring efforts in order to prevent malnutrition, which is known to speed up the severity of AIDS symptoms.

Officials also noted that the new strategy directs more than $500 million to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a two-year-old international, independent granting agency, currently chaired by Secretary Thompson. The Global Fund approves grants after a thorough review of focused applications, and so far has funded 224 programs in 121 countries.

With these combined efforts, through international partnerships and bilateral aid, Secretary Powell said the United States has shown "bold leadership" on the issue, and he urged other nations to make similar contributions to improving global health. Powell also stressed how much needs to be done, offering the sobering statistic that an estimated 8,000 people die each day from AIDS.

Over the course of the five-year plan, the U.S. goal is to provide treatment to 2 million HIV-infected people, prevent 7 million new infections and provide care to 10 million people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, notably orphans and vulnerable children.

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