[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 21, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1918-E1919]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  THE MICROBICIDE DEVELOPMENT ACT: AN OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE MILLIONS OF 
                                 LIVES

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 21, 2005

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join today with my 
colleagues Representative Chris Shays and Danny K. Davis in introducing 
the Microbicide Development Act, along with twenty seven of our 
colleagues. This bipartisan legislation recognizes the need to 
coordinate and accelerate federal microbicide research and development 
programs in order to provide a new and effective tool in fighting the 
HIV/AIDS pandemic here and around the world. At the 15th International 
AIDS Conference in Bangkok last year, microbicide development was 
listed at one of the ``10 most promising biotechnologies for improving 
global health.'' It is time that we turn that promise into reality.
  Microbicide products that can be applied topically--like gels or 
foams--are being developed today to help prevent the spread of HIV and 
other sexually-transmitted diseases in women. Microbicides would block 
infection by creating a barrier between the pathogen and its target 
cells. A computer modeling study by the London School of Hygiene and 
Tropical Medicine found that if an effective microbicide were used by 
20 percent of women in just 73 low-income countries, it would prevent 
2.5 million HIV infections over three years.
  The Microbicide Development Act would help us realize the life-saving 
potential of microbicides. It would require development and 
implementation of a federal strategic plan to coordinate ongoing 
activities among the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, and the United States Agency of International 
Development (USAID). Through this increased emphasis and annual reports 
to Congress, we can ensure that the United States moves forward 
effectively and quickly as part of the global effort to stop AIDS.
  The need to act to cut HIV infections and AIDS deaths is overwhelming 
and immediate. Most of us are aware of the stark figures. In the last 
25 years, 40 million people around the world have been infected with 
the disease. Nearly 3 million lives are lost each year. In Africa 
alone, it is projected that 80 million people will die by 2025 unless 
we act decisively to stop the spread of AIDS.
  Not as many are aware of the changing face of HIV/AIDS--the growth of 
infection rates among women. Over 14,000 people are infected with HIV 
each and every day--about 7,000 of them are women. Many of these women 
live in monogamous relationships but, because they are unable or too 
afraid to ask their husbands or partners to use condoms, they have no 
prevention tools at their disposal.
  In fact, as Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, director of the non-profit 
International Partnership for Microbicides, points out, ``For women, in 
many parts of the world, being poor, young and married are the most 
significant risk factors for acquiring HIV infection.'' Microbicides--
products like gels or foams that can be applied topically--would 
provide an effective prevention tool that women can use to protect 
themselves, without having to rely on their partners.

[[Page E1919]]

  Microbicides hold particular promise in Africa, where, as UN 
Secretary General Kofi Annan said in 2003, women must be placed at the 
center of the HIV/AIDS strategy. ``If you want to save Africa, you must 
save the African woman first,'' he said. ``It is they who nurture the 
social networks that help societies share burdens.'' Yet, as Lesotho's 
Minister of Health and Social Welfare Deborah K. Raditapole describes, 
many African women have little ability to protect themselves or their 
children: Having sex with her husband is considered a wife's duty, even 
when she knows that her husband has had other partners and wishes to 
protect herself. If she insists that he uses a condom or refuses to 
have sex with him, she may be beaten or abandoned. Even if a woman 
suspects that her spouse may have been exposed to HIV, she has nowhere 
to turn for support, and there are no laws to protect her.
  That is why Ilene Wong, a Stanford Hospital physician, calls 
microbicide development a ``lifesaving safety net.'' In The Washington 
Post last summer, she wrote: In my nightmares, I see the women we have 
failed to protect from AIDS. . . . I despair for my sisters in Africa, 
who know that abstinence is rarely an option for the powerless and 
poor. Rather, it's a luxury for those confident that they will eat 
tomorrow. A truly comprehensive and farsighted global AIDS program 
would recognize that women need their own weapons against HIV. They 
need microbicides.
  In the Gleneagles statement issued last July, the G8 recognized the 
need for a greater commitment to global health and joined the chorus of 
respected health organizations calling for expedited microbicide 
development. Other organizations that have recognized the potential of 
microbicides include the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, the 
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the National 
Institutes of Health, the National Women's Health Network and the Alan 
Guttmacher Institute.
  Microbicide development is not just a life-and-death matter for women 
in other countries, it is equally crucial for women in the United 
States. In Illinois, over 30,000 AIDS cases have been reported and we 
have suffered 16,400 deaths since 1981. As in other parts of the world, 
women and especially women of color represent a growing proportion of 
new infections in Illinois. The AIDS Foundation of Chicago has been a 
leader in calling for expanded microbicide R&D as part of their 
comprehensive efforts to address the AIDS epidemic. David Munar, Jim 
Pickett and others at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago have been 
instrumental in helping to design this bill and in bringing attention 
to the need to put prevention tools against HIV and other sexually 
transmitted diseases directly into women's and men's hands.
  I also want to thank the many women who, infected themselves, have 
come forward to push for microbicide development in order to protect 
other women. Women like Chicagoan Debra Fleming, an African American 
woman who has lived with HIV for 20 years and says, ``I know plenty of 
women who really don't have a choice when it comes to using protection 
with their partners. Condoms are just an option for them because a lot 
of these women are battered. With a microbicide, a woman can protect 
herself from both HIV and a black eye.''
  And I want to thank my constituent, Patrice Dean, who has been HIV+ 
for 15 years, who is also part of the fight for prevention. ``If 
microbicides would have been available to me, I may never have become 
infected,'' she says. ``They are important for all women, especially 
women of childbearing age who want to have a child but not risk 
infection. They are also important for married couples, where it may be 
difficult for a woman to negotiate condoms. Men don't like condoms, 
never have, never will. That is always an issue.''
  Women will soon comprise over half of the world's HIV/AIDS-infected 
people. They need HIV-prevention tools that they can use themselves, 
without having to rely on reluctant and sometimes even abusive 
partners. The Microbicide Development Act will spur development of 
those tools. I hope that my colleagues will join us in cosponsoring 
this bill and in pushing for its enactment.

                          ____________________