[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4191 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4191

    To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide for the 
 establishment of a network of pediatric centers in certain developing 
countries to provide treatment and care for children with HIV/AIDS, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 21, 2004

    Ms. Millender-McDonald introduced the following bill; which was 
          referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide for the 
 establishment of a network of pediatric centers in certain developing 
countries to provide treatment and care for children with HIV/AIDS, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``International Pediatric HIV/AIDS 
Network Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) HIV/AIDS causes the death of more individuals than any 
        other infectious disease, surpassing even tuberculosis and 
        malaria, the leading causes of death since antiquity. In 2003 
        HIV/AIDS caused the death of more than 3,000,000 individuals.
            (2) Worldwide, approximately 40,000,000 adults and children 
        are infected with HIV, and approximately 28,000,000 individuals 
        have died of AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic, 
        including approximately 5,600,000 children.
            (3) Approximately 50 percent of all new HIV infections 
        occur among young people 15 to 24 years of age.
            (4) Each day more than 2,000 children are infected with HIV 
        and 16 percent of all new HIV infections involve children.
            (5) In 2003 more than 700,000 children became infected with 
        HIV and a total of approximately 2,500,000 children were living 
        with HIV/AIDS.
            (6) In 2003 approximately 500,000 children died from AIDS. 
        By the end of 2003 a total of more than 5,600,000 children had 
        died from AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic.
            (7) The HIV/AIDS epidemic has a devastating impact on 
        children and families. More than 14,000,000 children have been 
        orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS, of whom 95 percent live in 
        sub-Saharan Africa.
            (8) The following represents the approximate number of 
        children under the age of 15 who are living with HIV/AIDS in 
        the countries indicated: 270,000 in Nigeria, 250,000 in South 
        Africa, 230,000 in Ethiopia, 220,000 in Kenya, 170,000 in 
        Tanzania, 150,000 in Zambia, 110,000 in Uganda, 84,000 in Cote 
        d'Ivoire, 80,000 in Mozambique, 65,000 in Rwanda, 30,000 in 
        Namibia, 170,000 in India, 2,000 in the People's Republic of 
        China, and 800 in Guyana.
            (9) These countries are developing countries in which very 
        few individuals infected with HIV have access to antiretroviral 
        therapies.
            (10) Approximately 50 percent of all individuals who become 
        infected with HIV acquire the virus before the age of 25 and 
        die from AIDS or AIDS-related illnesses before the age of 35. 
        The propensity of HIV to infect adolescents and young adults 
        poses a unique threat to children for acquisition of the virus.
            (11) In addition, 95 percent of HIV/AIDS-associated deaths 
        occur in developing countries. Some projections indicate that 
        by 2005 the number of individuals infected with HIV in Africa 
        may double to approximately 60,000,000 individuals. Asia, 
        especially India and the People's Republic of China, is 
        acknowledged to represent the next region to experience a major 
        increase in the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
            (12) There is also a lack of health care professionals with 
        expertise or experience in treating children infected with HIV, 
        including the provision of therapy, dosing, administration, and 
        monitoring. Treatment for children infected with HIV is not as 
        widely available as it is for adults infected with HIV and thus 
        children represent a disproportionate share of those 
        individuals infected with HIV who do not have access treatment.
            (13) Most health care professionals in developing countries 
        lack formal education or training in pediatric HIV/AIDS 
        treatment, have limited access to relevant scientific and 
        medical literature, and do not network or collaborate with 
        their colleagues in other institutions on any regular basis.
            (14) Formal research training for such health care 
        professionals is almost non-existent, as well as studies 
        specifically designed to address practical and affordable 
        approaches to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. 
        Infrastructure for the conduct of HIV/AIDS clinical research is 
        lacking in most developing countries.
            (15) The establishment of a network of pediatric centers to 
        provide treatment and care for children with HIV/AIDS in 
        developing countries and the training of pediatric health care 
        professionals would be an important contribution to the 
        prevention, treatment, and monitoring of HIV/AIDS cases in 
        those countries.
            (16) The establishment of this network will mean that 
        approximately 40,000 children with HIV/AIDS will receive 
        treatment and care at the pediatric centers during the five 
        year-period beginning immediately after the establishment of 
        the network. This will dramatically enhance the global 
        infrastructure and capacity for HIV/AIDS care and treatment and 
        clinical research. Each center would become self-sustaining 
        after the initial five year-period.
            (17) These centers will be developed and staffed 
        collaboratively by United States and local professionals. The 
        centers would be modeled after two landmark international 
        pediatric HIV/AIDS care and treatment centers already 
        established and operating in Constanta, Romania, and Gaborone, 
        Botswana.
            (18) Based on the model of the pediatric HIV/AIDS care and 
        treatment centers in Constanta, Romania and Gaborone, Botswana, 
        these centers will make a valuable contribution not only to the 
        treatment of HIV/AIDS, but also to routine care, psychosocial 
        care, and nutritional and other child life services.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961.

    (a) Network of Pediatric HIV/AIDS Centers.--Section 104A(d) of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b-2(d)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(8) Network of pediatric hiv/aids centers.--The 
        establishment and operation by one or more public-private 
        partnership entities described in paragraph (7) of a network of 
        pediatric centers in countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the 
        Republic of India, the People's Republic of China, the Co-
        operative Republic of Guyana, and other countries and areas 
        with high rates of HIV/AIDS to provide treatment and care for 
        children with HIV/AIDS in such countries and areas and to 
        provide training of pediatric health care professionals at such 
        centers.''.
    (b) Funding.--Section 104A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(g) Funding for Network of Pediatric HIV/AIDS Centers.--Of the 
funds made available to carry out this section for fiscal years 2005 
through 2009, not less than $10,000,000 for each such fiscal year is 
authorized to be made available to carry out subsection (d)(8).''.
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