[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 164 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 164
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
January 4, 2005
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 2005''.
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 2006
through 2010, 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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