USIS Washington File - July 26, 2007
Jane Morse, USINFO Staff Writer

First lady Laura Bush, speaking at the National Press Club July 25, marveled at "the Lazarus effect" she saw during her most recent trip to Africa. (Lazarus, according to a story in the Christian Bible, after having been dead and entombed for several days, was raised to life by Jesus Christ.)

During her visits to Senegal, Mozambique, Zambia and Mali, the first lady said, she met people who now can plan productive futures because they have been given access to the drugs that can control the disease.

The catalyst for the turnabout for more than a million HIV-AIDS victims worldwide has been the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

First announced by President Bush in 2003, PEPFAR's $15 billion, five-year emergency effort to combat AIDS is the largest commitment by any nation for an international health initiative dedicated to a single disease. As of March, PEPFAR has supported life-saving anti-retroviral treatment for more than 1.1 million people through bilateral programs in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Caribbean.

WHY AFRICA?

Much of PEPFAR's focus has been on Africa. The sub-Saharan region is one of the areas hardest-hit by the disease and is home to 26 million people with HIV infections. Before the PEPFAR initiative, only about 50,000 people in the region received treatment; now more than 1 million have been treated, Laura Bush said.

Moreover, there is emphasis on preventive care for mothers, as well as public education, the first lady said. Education is especially important, she said, to stem the tide of new infections, which topped 4 million in 2006.

An essential element in PEPFAR's success, the first lady said, is that its programs are developed in close partnership with the native people of the countries in which the programs operate. For example, the United States supports the "ABC" model for prevention developed by African officials: that is, abstinence, being faithful to one's spouse, and the correct and consistent use of condoms.

This model is having a positive effect in Uganda, Botswana, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia, the first lady said. In Kenya, for example, HIV prevalence in the population has dropped from 10 percent in the mid-1990s to about 6 percent today. Data suggest that Kenyan men are having fewer sexual partners and Kenyan women are waiting longer to begin having sex.

Also important, the first lady said, is removing the stigma associated with having the disease. She cited a "Positive Art" program for children in a hospital in Mozambique, where infected children could paint while their mothers had tea as part of a group support program.

Laura Bush said she was "especially touched" by the programs she saw in Zambia, where more than 16 percent of the country's adult population has HIV/AIDS and more than 700,000 children have been made orphans by the disease.

"In Lusaka, I visited Chreso Ministries, which is run by the Gospel Outreach Fellowship," the first lady said. "All of the Chreso clinic's anti-retrovirals are provided by PEPFAR. In Chreso's worship hall, I met with patients and care providers. One woman, Patricia, told us about the pain of stigma; about losing her job when people found out she was positive. Another woman explained how out of her family of 29, only 14 are still alive and 12 of them are HIV positive. One man, Jonathan, a married father of four, explained that he was so weak from AIDS that his entire family thought he was going to die. But with treatment he receives at Chreso, he said, 'I'm healthy. My children are in school and my family is smiling.'"

Every year, American taxpayers spend more than $6.5 billion on African development. The first lady said she often is asked why the United States focuses so much of its aid help on Africa. She said her response is that Americans feel a moral obligation to help the people of Africa.

"We're able to provide these resources because our history has yielded a free and prosperous nation. In Africa, however, history has been less kind. Colonialism, the slave trade, poverty and war have each, by turns, devastated the continent," she said. Now HIV-AIDS claims millions of lives every year.

"If you ask 'Why Africa?' one answer is that it's in our country's interest to stand with governments that bring stability and opportunity to their people," the first lady said. "We've learned that it's in our urgent interest to invest in successful governments now so that we don't have to pay the price for failed governments down the road. "

She said it is also in the U.S. interest to help the nations of Africa build stable societies. "Compassionate Americans want to help, not for our own benefit, but because we believe that every human life has value."

A transcript of the first lady's remarks and more information on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief are available on the PEPFAR Web site.

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