[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23678-23679]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                             WORLD AIDS DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, since 1988 December 1 has been known as World 
AIDS Day. World AIDS Day emerged from the call by the World Summit of 
the Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS prevention in January of 
1988 to open channels of communication, strengthen the exchange of 
information and experience, and forge a spirit of social tolerance. 
Since then World AIDS Day has received the support of the World Health 
Assembly, the United Nations system and governments, communities and 
individuals around the world. Each year, it is the only international 
day of coordinated action against AIDS.
  Today in the Washington Post I have read Kofi Annan, who is the 
Secretary General of the United Nations, entered this editorial 
comment: ``Every day more than 8,000 people die of AIDS. Every hour 
almost 600 people become

[[Page 23679]]

infected. Every minute a child dies of the virus. Just as life and 
death goes on after September 11, so must we continue our fight against 
the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Before the terrorist attack two months ago, 
tremendous momentum had been achieved in that fight. To lose it now 
would be to compound one tragedy with another.
  ``New figures released in advance of World AIDS Day, December 1, show 
that more than 40 million people are now living with the virus. The 
vast majority of them are in sub-Saharan Africa, where the devastation 
is so acute that it has become one of the major obstacles to 
development. But parts of the Caribbean and Asia are not far behind and 
the pandemic is spreading at an alarming rate in Eastern Europe. For 
too long global progress and facing up to AIDS was painfully slow, and 
nowhere near commensurate with the challenge. But in the past year for 
much of the international community, the magnitude of this crisis has 
finally begun to sink in. Never in the 2 long decades that the world 
has faced this growing catastrophe have there been such a sense of 
common resolve and collective possibility.
  ``Public opinion has been mobilized by the media and nongovernmental 
organizations and activists, by doctors and economists and by people 
living with the disease. Pharmaceutical companies have made their AIDS 
drugs more affordable in poor countries, and a growing number of 
corporations have created programs to provide both prevention and 
treatment for employees in the wider community. Foundations are making 
increasingly imaginative and generous contributions, both financial and 
intellectual in prevention, in reducing mother-to-child transmission 
and the search for the vaccine.
  ``In a growing number of countries, an effective prevention campaign 
has been launched. There has been an increased recognition about donors 
in the most affected countries of the link between prevention and 
treatment.''
  This is General Kofi Annan's statement today in the Washington Post. 
Let me underscore how tragic it is: 7,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa 
die each day. Seven thousand people, almost double those killed in the 
World Trade Center. Seven thousand a day in sub-Saharan Africa.
  It is an international issue that we must grapple with. I am proud to 
say President Bush has committed $200 million to the global fund to 
fight HIV and AIDS. The global fund has right now pledges totalling 
$1.5 billion and I am proud to see our President, George Bush, 
committed to this goal and providing financial response and support.
  I am asking Congress for an additional $1 billion for the fund, and I 
hope we are able to do that.
  Today we should reflect on those lost and use their memories to fuel 
our efforts to eradicate this pandemic. This is one of the most serious 
health challenges we have faced and will face in my lifetime. I pledge 
as a Member of this body to continue to work with our leaders, the 
Speaker of the House and others, in order to effectuate a solid policy 
that helps care for those suffering from this dreaded disease. We can 
find a way to not only, we pray, create a vaccine, but eradicate this 
scourge among mankind. But we must particularly set our sights on sub-
Saharan Africa and other places because of the poverty and because of 
the lack of knowledge and because a lack of medical care and treatment 
is ravaging and destroying the humanity that lives there.
  I pledge my support and I know Congress joins us today as we salute 
World AIDS Day tomorrow morning in our global fight against this 
disease.

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