[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 95 (Monday, July 15, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1257-E1258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               STATEMENT ON INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 15, 2002

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, last week in Barcelona, Spain, 15,000 
people came together for the 14th International AIDS Conference for 
``Knowledge and Commitment for Action.''
  We know that in 2001, there were 5 million new AIDS infections across 
the globe. Today there are 40 million people living with AIDS 
worldwide, and there are 14 million AIDS orphans. Currently, in Africa 
more than 28 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, however, only 
30,000 are in treatment.
  In comparison, in the United States, nearly 100 percent of the people 
who need treatment receive it. 99 percent of the African people living 
with AIDS do not have access to Antiretroviral drugs because they are 
simply too poor to purchase them.
  In Barcelona, thousands came together to call for treatment now, and 
presented the ``Barcelona Declaration,'' which was also read during the 
opening session of the Conference. Nelson Mendela and former President 
Clinton have pledged their assistance to help raise awareness and 
funding for the UN Global AIDS Trust Fund.
  This declaration called for securing donations of $10 billion dollars 
per year for global AIDS; Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for at least 
two million people with HIV/AIDS in the developing world by 2004; 
lower, affordable ARV drug prices and universal access to generics in 
the developing world; and a new global partnership between government 
and NGOs.
  I am urging that Congress and the President in a bi-partisan spirit, 
bolster UN efforts to combat the AIDS pandemic, provide 2 billion 
dollars to the United Nations Global Aids Fund, to help pay for the 
costs of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs. This 
Administration has allocated $200 million dollars to fight global AIDS. 
I wholeheartedly agree with the activists in Barcelona that $200 
million is not enough to combat ``the Plague'' of the 21st century.
  The United States must put at least $2 billion into the Global Trust 
Fund. Dr. Peter Piot, the Director of UNAIDS said that a $ 10 billion 
effort will only begin to make a dent in the crisis. It is a falsehood 
to say that spending money on AIDS in Africa would simply be a waste of 
money. Critics of the fund incorrectly say that corrupt dictators will 
take the money and use it to enrich themselves. In Uganda, Thailand and 
Senegal, for example, strong national leadership partnered with a 
community-wide response are reducing new HIV infections and AIDS 
diagnoses and focusing on treatment measures for their people. There 
are hundreds of AIDS organizations and government officials around the 
world that are monitoring the progress of the Fund. Please . . .  let's 
give it a chance to work.
  I am urging today that my colleagues in Congress, the Bush 
Administration, the private sector, and the celebrity community begin 
lobbying the more affluent nations of the European Community and Asia 
to provide the remaining 8 billion necessary to combat the

[[Page E1258]]

AIDS pandemic. France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and the oil rich 
Countries of the Middle East are not providing enough funding to the UN 
Global AIDS Trust.
  I have often heard the argument that we can not afford to treat and 
prevent HIV/AIDS patients around the world who have AIDS, or will 
contract it in the future. Nobody on the planet can persuade me that 
America, and the industrialized countries of the East and West, nations 
with trillion dollar economies, do not have the resources to combat the 
AlDS pandemic. But the truth of the matter, and I have seen this for 
decades, is that the international community will follow our lead if we 
provide the moral and financial leadership on HIV/AIDS. Again, this has 
not been the case.
  I am also urging my colleagues to call a meeting with the 
pharmaceutical companies, and begin the much needed discussion on how 
to bring the price of HIV/AIDS prescription drugs down so that the 
poorer nations, in particularly those in Africa, can afford to buy them 
or generic drugs. In times of international health disasters, we must 
put the lives of people first; and profits second. Sadly, this has not 
been the case.
  In the United States, 950,000 people have been diagnosed with AIDS. 
African Americans make up only 13 percent of the total U.S. population 
but 54 percent of new infections. 82 percent of women who are newly 
infected with HIV are African-American and Latino.
  In Michigan, AIDS patients who are dependent on federal programs to 
help cover the costs of HIV/AIDS drugs are now saying that due to 
budget cuts, they are having difficulty affording HIV/AIDS drugs. We 
can not allow this to happen.
  It is imperative that we as a nation provide the requisite funds 
necessary to provide adequate treatment and prevention for HIV/AIDS 
both at home and abroad.

                          ____________________