[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2749 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2749

  To ensure that the highest priority for HIV/AIDS-related funding is 
  saving lives most immediately and urgently threatened by HIV-AIDS, 
          including babies at risk of being infected at birth.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 12, 2008

    Mr. Coburn (for himself, Mr. Burr, and Mr. Kyl) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                           Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To ensure that the highest priority for HIV/AIDS-related funding is 
  saving lives most immediately and urgently threatened by HIV-AIDS, 
          including babies at risk of being infected at birth.

    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 ``Save Lives First Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) According to the United Nations, there were--
                    (A) 33,200,000 people living with HIV/AIDS 
                worldwide in 2007, including 22,500,000 people in sub-
                Saharan Africa;
                    (B) 2,500,000 new HIV/AIDS infections in 2007, 
                including 1,700,000 in sub-Saharan Africa; and
                    (C) 2,010,000 people on antiretroviral therapy in 
                developing countries in 2006.
            (2) Over 2,100,000 people die from AIDS every year.
            (3) Fewer than 10 percent of HIV-infected individuals in 
        the developing world receive treatment.
            (4) More than 80 percent of people with HIV/AIDS in 
        developing countries are unaware of their status.
            (5) Peer-reviewed studies have shown that patients who are 
        well managed on anti-retroviral therapy achieve low viral 
        loads, which may reduce their chances of infecting others.
            (6) Perinatal transmission is the leading cause of 
        pediatric HIV infections, despite medical advances that have 
        made it possible to nearly eliminate perinatal HIV 
        transmission.
            (7) Research studies have demonstrated that the 
        administration of antiretroviral medication during pregnancy, 
        during labor, and immediately following birth can significantly 
        reduce the transmission of HIV from an infected mother to her 
        baby.
            (8) Nevirapine, an antiretroviral drug that costs less than 
        $4 a dose, has been proven to prevent HIV transmission from 
        mother to child with the administration of just two doses.
            (9) Even if treatment begins shortly after birth, 
        antiretroviral therapy can substantially reduce the chance that 
        an HIV-exposed infant will become infected.
            (10) The American Medical Association recommends universal 
        HIV testing of all newborns with appropriate treatment for 
        affected mothers and children.
            (11) Testing newborns whose mothers' statuses are unknown 
        ensures that every child at risk for HIV is identified.
            (12) The provision of testing of pregnant women and 
        newborns with appropriate counseling and treatment can 
        significantly reduce the number of pediatric HIV infections, 
        including AIDS cases, improve access to medical care for women 
        and children, and provide opportunities to further reduce 
        transmission among adults.
            (13) The provision of such testing, counseling, and 
        treatment can reduce the overall cost of pediatric HIV 
        infections, including AIDS cases.
            (14) Saving lives with HIV/AIDS treatment is the best way 
        to prevent children from becoming orphans and to preserve the 
        family and community structure so essential to social cohesion 
        and economic prosperity in communities affected by AIDS.
            (15) The provision of HIV/AIDS treatment has brought hope, 
        health, and a future to communities living under a death 
        sentence, and with worldwide death rates still exceeding 
        2,100,000 per year, other objectives, although meritorious, 
        must defer to testing and treatment.

SEC. 3. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS FOR THERAPEUTIC MEDICAL CARE.

    Section 403(a) of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, 
Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7673(a)) is amended by 
striking ``(a) Therapeutic Medical Care.--'' and all that follows 
through ``related care. For fiscal years 2006 through 2008'' and 
inserting the following: ``(a) Therapeutic Medical Care.--
            ``(1) Allocation of hiv assistance funds.--
                    ``(A) In general.--For fiscal years 2009 through 
                2013--
                            ``(i) not less than 55 percent of the 
                        amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
                        authorization of appropriations under section 
                        401 for HIV/AIDS assistance for each such 
                        fiscal year shall be expended for therapeutic 
                        medical care of individuals infected with HIV, 
                        in furtherance of the requirement under 
                        subparagraph (B)(i);
                            ``(ii) not less than 5 percent of the 
                        amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
                        authorization of appropriations under section 
                        401 for HIV/AIDS assistance for each such 
                        fiscal year shall be expended to expand the use 
                        of rapid HIV/AIDS testing, in furtherance of 
                        the requirement under subparagraph (B)(ii); and
                            ``(iii) not less than 25 percent of the 
                        amount allocated under clause (ii) shall be 
                        expended for assistance to countries that have 
                        adopted a national policy of universal, 
                        routine, rapid HIV/AIDS diagnosis of all 
                        patients of publicly funded facilities, 
                        including pregnant women and newborns.
                    ``(B) Required medical progress.--The President 
                shall ensure that, by the end of fiscal year 2013--
                            ``(i) antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS 
                        and associated opportunistic infections or 
                        medical monitoring of HIV-seropositive people 
                        not in clinical need of retroviral treatment 
                        has been provided to no fewer than 7,000,000 
                        people living in countries receiving funding 
                        under this Act;
                            ``(ii) no fewer than 1,000,000,000 rapid 
                        tests for HIV/AIDS have been conducted on 
                        people living in countries receiving funding 
                        under this Act; and
                            ``(iii) every available intervention is 
                        provided to ensure that 100 percent of infants 
                        born to HIV-infected women in countries where 
                        funds are expended pursuant to this Act are 
                        born uninfected and remain uninfected for at 
                        least the first year after birth, as measured 
                        by 100 percent diagnosis of pregnant women for 
                        HIV infection and of newborns for HIV 
                        antibodies and 100 percent treatment for each 
                        such mother or child diagnosed.
            ``(2) Allocation of hiv/aids prevention funds.--For fiscal 
        years 2006 through 2008''.
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