USIS Washington File - June 4, 2006
Jim Fisher-Thompson, Washington File Staff Writer

"Today we celebrate a new program that provides a continuum of prevention, care and treatment for HIV/AIDS that is integrated into all services provided by the well-trained staff and personnel of Centre de Bomoi," Meece said in remarks at N'Djili.

The University of North Carolina received funding from the U.S. government to set up the HIV/AIDS care unit, which will have the primary task of providing healthcare to patients and their families suffering from the disease that has killed 23 million people worldwide, 90 percent of them in Africa.

As well as providing treatment, the new unit will also meet the psychological and nutritional needs of AIDS patients -- key elements in the HIV/AIDS programs the U.S. government is funding in the DRC for $10 million a year.

Meece said the center "is also designed to provide quality health care services to all families, not just HIV-positive families. All mothers receive prenatal services to assure safe and successful births, all children receive immunization against the major childhood illnesses and all sufferers of TB receive comprehensive services."

In remarks in April at the Dikembe Mutombo Hospital in Kinshasa, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer noted that more than $30 million, or 25 percent of U.S. government assistance to the Congolese people, "is directly aimed at preventing illness and building health care capacity" in the DRC.

Frazer also commented on the power of the U.S. government's partnership with faith-based institutions like the Salvation Army to help people help themselves.

"President Bush often remarks that 'America is a compassionate and generous land.' The statistics prove it. For every one-dollar of official foreign assistance from the U.S. Government, individual Americans donate three to four dollars of their own earnings, through non-governmental organizations, charities, and foundations," she said.

For more information on U.S. policies, see AIDS in Africa.

AMBASSADOR MEECE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT UPCOMING ELECTIONS

Following the clinic launch, Meece hosted a town hall meeting for Americans living in Kinshasa.

"We are in a very active [political] time now...and that is the final phase moving toward actual [presidential and parliamentary] elections" on July 30," the ambassador told the group. He said a second round of elections would follow for provincial assemblies and for a presidential run-off if none of the 33 candidates receives an absolute majority.

"I, myself am absolutely confidant that we are going to get to elections on July 30," he told his fellow Americans.

Meece said the objective for the U.S. government was to have "credible, open and democratic elections giving the Congolese, for the first time in over 40 years, the opportunity to vote for their own leaders."

"The significance of that is quite profound and can start producing major changes in the country, the political system, and the way things work," the ambassador said.

Meece said he was optimistic, in part, because the details of the planning phase were finally being implemented.

"The election kits, consisting of ballot boxes, forms, ink, etc., used by the 50,000 polling stations, have arrived," he said. In addition, "[t]he ballots -- totaling 1,800 tons of paper -- are being printed in South Africa and will be delivered here [by air] next week and will start to be distributed across the country."

Meece reminded his audience "the scale of this [election] undertaking is massive." For example, 169 voting districts -- each one with a separate ballot for the legislative elections -- need to be administered. "But, all of this is moving forward. It is happening. I have seen the ballots," he said.

"There is a very strong will on the part of the international community; on the part of the election commission; on the part of key people throughout the system to make this [election] happen. And I think it will," he said.

For more information on U.S. policies, see Africa and Democracy.

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