[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23385]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           ON WORLD AIDS DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, this Saturday, December 1, marks 
the commemoration of World AIDS Day. In my district, I will be holding 
a special event in support of this occasion.
  As our distinguished minority leader, the gentleman from Missouri 
(Mr. Gephardt), stated at the World AIDS Day briefing held earlier 
today in the Capitol by the African Ambassadors Group and the 
International AIDS Trust, the issue of HIV/AIDS, he said, is the 
``moral issue of our time.'' It affects everyone and everything.
  Mr. Speaker, we must leave no stone unturned to bring an end to this 
pandemic. We must find a way to create an endowment of funding to 
assist the war against the spread of this disease, both domestically 
and internationally.
  We must increase and accelerate our financial support to the U.N. 
Secretary General's AIDS Trust Fund, and we must champion our own 
colleagues in their quest to craft a comprehensive approach to help 
alleviate the appalling suffering in Africa, as represented by the bill 
of my distinguished colleague, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Lee), to establish a Marshall Plan for Africa.
  Mr. Speaker, it is vitally important that we focus on ways and means 
to strengthen infrastructures and services that can help combat the 
impact of AIDS. HIV/AIDS, after all, is a multidimensional issue that 
has long-range development implications. It is not just a matter of 
clinical treatment and curative measures. We must address the issues of 
poverty and debt relief, so that the poorest countries can apply more 
of their revenues to the basic human rights and human needs of their 
people.
  We must help and encourage greater gender equity, so women and men 
can address their sexual dialogue on a more equal basis. We must 
achieve greater understanding of the cultural values and modes of 
behavior that undercut safe-sex practices that lead to the spread of 
this pernicious disease.
  Finally, we must increase our financial support to develop activities 
and programs that can lay a more sustainable foundation for community 
empowerment and economic livelihood.
  Only on this basis will communities around the world, through NGOs 
and public-private partnerships, be able to find the will to wage this 
war against AIDS. Our local event will bring together researchers, 
doctors, and other health professionals, as well as heads of 
foundations and pharmaceutical companies, together with community 
leaders to continue to raise support for combatting HIV/AIDS in the 
37th district and in the region.
  It is our hope that similar commemorative activities across America 
and around the world will highlight the leadership being brought to 
bear on this critical concern of our time. Just as we are building a 
powerful coalition to fight terrorism on a global scale, we can do no 
less when it comes to HIV/AIDS. Forty million people living with this 
dreadful disease is one too many.

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