[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 93 (Thursday, July 11, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H4533-H4534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        BARCELONA CONFERENCE ON
                                HIV-AIDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I stand here, along with my 
colleagues, to commend the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) for 
her leadership on the issue of the AIDS pandemic internationally. My 
colleague already read the declaration from the Barcelona conference. I 
am going to read the whereas clauses, because I think they set forth 
specifically the status of this AIDS pandemic internationally.
  ``Whereas every single day AIDS claims 8,500 lives, or the equivalent 
of three World Trade Center disasters daily;
  Whereas by December 2001, 40 million people were living with HIV-
AIDS, and by 2005 an estimated 100 million will be infected;
  Whereas more than 40 million children, most of them in developing 
nations, will be orphaned by AIDS by 2010;
  Whereas the World Health Organization this year has stated that the 
antiretroviral treatment is medically essential and has issued specific 
treatment guidelines, monitoring standards, and regimen 
recommendations;
  Whereas those on treatment represent less than 2 percent of all those 
infected with HIV because such treatment is almost completely 
unavailable in developing nations;

[[Page H4534]]

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  Whereas, over 500 nongovernmental organizations globally have 
endorsed the Barcelona March for Life, which demands treatment access 
to at least 2 million people in the developing world by the time of the 
2004 International Conference on AIDS in Bangkok;
  Whereas these organizations represent AIDS activists from Africa, 
Asia and the Pacific Islands, Australia, Europe, Central and South 
America, and North America, therefore, we declare as activists pledged 
to life for all persons with HIV/AIDS that we are committed to the 
following goals, which the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) has 
set forth.
  Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity to represent the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee) at World AIDS Day in Seattle 2 years ago during 
the WTO, and it was my pleasure to sit on her behalf. What was most 
interesting to me was the fact that an epidemiologist came and 
testified before the organization that there were hundreds and 
thousands of grandparents raising grandchildren because the parents of 
these children have been infected with the HIV/AIDS virus and, 
therefore, were unable to take care of their own children. So 
grandparents are taking care of as many as 25 of their grandchildren.
  I think we need to pay attention to, as the United States of America, 
and when we start thinking about the companies and corporations that 
are doing business in these developing countries, that they will not 
have available to them the workers to do the work in these countries. 
We need to pay attention to the HIV/AIDS virus and pay attention not 
only in developing countries, but in our own Nation.
  In the United States, 950,000 have been diagnosed with AIDS. African 
Americans make up 13 percent of the total U.S. population, but 54 
percent of the new infections, 82 percent of the women who are newly 
infected with HIV/AIDS are African American and Latino.
  The time is up for us to sit back and believe the HIV/AIDS virus is 
affecting people other than Americans and we can just think about it 
being in another country and not deal with the issue.
  I stand here in support of the Barcelona Declaration. I stand here in 
support of it on behalf of all the people of the world, but 
particularly on behalf of the people of the 11th Congressional District 
of Ohio, and I salute the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) for her 
work in this area.

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