[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 50 (Monday, April 29, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3489-S3490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HIV/AIDS IN OUR HEMISPHERE

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to discuss a 
critically important issue in our hemisphere--the growing problem of 
HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean and Latin America.
  Today, there are an estimated 420,000 individuals living with HIV/
AIDS in the Caribbean, and another 1.4 million living with the disease 
in Latin America. In Haiti alone, roughly 1 out of every 10 people has 
HIV/AIDS.
  Yet despite these staggering numbers and despite the fact the highest 
prevalence of HIV/AIDS--outside of Sub-Saharan Africa--exists right in 
our own backyard, this region of the world is often forgotten, and the 
people who suffer there because of AIDS are often forgotten. While, 
understandably, much attention has been focused on the great tragedy 
caused by the disease in Sub-Saharan Africa--and we should never forget 
it--I think it is also important that we also focus our efforts on 
combating this disease in our own hemisphere.
  That is why I want to call attention to a historic, day-long meeting 
held just last week in Georgetown, Guyana. While it received very 
little attention in the media, on April 20, senior U.S. and Caribbean 
health officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy 
Thompson, met in Guyana to sign a new Pan-Caribbean agreement against 
HIV/AIDS.
  I commend Secretary Thompson, Secretary Powell, and President Bush 
for their leadership and follow through in making this vision a 
reality. Last week's meeting and subsequent agreement represents an 
unprecedented new partnership to fight the disease in the region. As 
part of this new agreement, the U.S. and Caribbean nations have pledged 
to improve collaborative efforts to make sure people living with HIV/
AIDS, and those at risk, have good

[[Page S3490]]

access to prevention and treatment services. As Secretary Thompson 
said:

       This will be an equal partnership--a sharing of technical 
     know-how and experiences.

  As part of this partnership, Secretary Thompson has pledged greater 
in-country collaboration with officials from the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, and the Health Resources and Services 
Administration. These efforts will complement recently announced 
initiatives by the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide 
almost $162 million in new funding over the next 5 years to help 
countries in the Americas and worldwide expand HIV/AIDS prevention, 
patient care, and HIV/AIDS mitigation programs. This is in addition to 
the $20 million the United States is currently providing in HIV/AIDS 
funding to Latin America and the Caribbean under the Bush 
administration's Third Border Initiative. These are all important steps 
in the right direction toward developing an integrated approach to 
combat this devastating disease.
  I urge my colleagues to share my support for these initiatives and to 
work with me to secure greater U.S. contributions for these 
international efforts in the future--through the Global Fund to Fight 
AIDS, as well as other bilateral assistance programs.
  To borrow Secretary Colin Powell's words:

       Our response to this crisis must be no less comprehensive, 
     and no less relentless, than the AIDS pandemic itself.

  Mr. President, this is something that we need to work harder on in 
the United States, in Africa, in the Caribbean, and throughout the 
world--wherever people suffer from AIDS. I thank the Chair, and I 
suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Carper). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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