[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 29, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO COMBAT HIV/AIDS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 
          AND THE CARIBBEAN AND NATIONAL SECURITY ACT OF 2003

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 29, 2003

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the 
Humanitarian Assistance to Combat HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and 
the Caribbean and National Security Act of 2003.
  I have long been concerned with the problem of HIV/AIDS, not just in 
our own country, but also as it affects the poor countries of the 
world. I am proud that the response to this disease has been truly a 
bipartisan one. AIDS is blind to party stripes or political 
affiliation.
  Mr. Speaker, my bill provides for an additional $2.5 billion over the 
next five years to increase and expand, in a significant way, our 
program to fight HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. My 
legislation also calls for the Administration to place a medical 
officer in each of our embassies to help coordinate our response to 
this disease. The scientific community has not yet found a cure for 
HIV/AIDS, but there is a vast body of knowledge that has improved in a 
significant way the quality of treatment for those who have HIV and 
AIDS.
  Sub-Saharan Africa is far more severely affected by AIDS than any 
other part of the world. In fact, AIDS has surpassed malaria as the 
leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa, and it kills many more 
people than armed conflicts.
  The statistics, Mr. Speaker, are startling. Africa, where an 
estimated 3.5 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2002, has 
approximately 10 percent of the world's population but more than 70 
percent of the worldwide total of people infected with HIV. In 2002, 
the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reported 29.4 
million people were living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. At the 
end of 2001, an estimated 21.5 million Africans had lost their lives to 
AIDS, including an estimated 2.2 million who had died during that year 
alone. UNAIDS estimates that by 2020, an additional 55 million Africans 
will lose their lives to this illness. This pandemic is having a much 
greater impact on children in Africa than is the case in other parts of 
the world.
  According to UNAIDS, more than 600,000 African infants become 
infected with HIV each year through mother-to-child transmission, 
either at birth or through breast-feeding. These children have short 
life expectancies, and the number currently alive may be about one 
million children.
  In 2001, about 11 million children became orphans by AIDS in Africa. 
Because of the stigma attached to AIDS, children who become orphans by 
AIDS are at high risk for being malnourished, abused, and denied an 
education.
  While the AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean countries does not compare 
to the severity of the pandemic in Africa, there are an estimated 
420,000 people living with AIDS in Caribbean countries. Moreover, the 
HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate in several countries in the Caribbean is 
among the highest outside of sub-Saharan Africa.
  Mr. Speaker, the toll of this disease has brought unspeakable sorrow 
and distress to Africa, the Caribbean, and other areas of the world. 
Our government has made a very good effort to address this disease in 
Africa and elsewhere; indeed we are in the forefront of the battle. 
Notwithstanding this fact, if we are to be successful in saving our 
brothers and sisters in Africa and the Caribbean, we must expand our 
effort in these regions significantly. That is the purpose of this 
legislation, Mr. Speaker. With the additional resources, both financial 
and human, provided for in my legislation, we can begin to stem the 
tide of this disease. We know what works in the effort to combat HIV/
AIDS and we need to get on about the business of doing it.
  Mr. Speaker, America is a great country. In the long history of 
mankind, our greatness will be measured as much by what we do for the 
needy and the less fortunate of the world as it is by the quality of 
life we achieve in our own country. The real measure of our humanity as 
a nation is our ability to share our treasure, our time, and our 
talents with the truly needy.
  If Congress does not further America's commitment to the global war 
on HIV/AIDS, then it is doing a disservice to the entire world 
community. I ask my colleagues for their support for this legislation, 
and I urge the leadership to bring it to the floor for its immediate 
consideration.

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