[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14964-14965]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                HIV/AIDS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I want to very briefly, before bringing us 
formally an end to this week, address an issue that sits on the back 
burner all too often. It is an issue that affects mankind globally in a 
very direct way, in a moral sense. It is the HIV/AIDS virus. I speak 
today because on Tuesday of this week, UNAIDS released a comprehensive 
report on the spread of global HIV/AIDS.
  This little, tiny virus, which people knew nothing about 23 years 
ago, has killed over 23 million people. The sobering statistics that 
were released this week are grim. Last year, the number of newly 
infected victims reached an all-time high of 5 million. The number of 
people living with this little virus has gone up in nearly every region 
of the world. The numbers have increased. The UNAIDS chief told the 
Associated Press:

       The virus is running faster than all of us.

  Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS. According to the U.N. 
report:

       An estimated 15 million children under the age of 18 
     worldwide have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

  In Swaziland and in Botswana, over a third of the population, one in 
three people, has the HIV virus. One-third of the country, if not 
treated, will end up dying from a terrible, a painful, and an entirely 
preventable disease.
  One out of three people in Swaziland and Botswana, these are 
staggering numbers. It is hard to comprehend. When you hear the 
statistics, it is hard to relate them to real people on the ground. I 
have had the opportunity to do just that because each year I travel, 
not as a Senator but as a physician, to Africa. While I am there, I see 
the devastation in real people's eyes and lives, the destruction of the 
family, the destruction of the most productive fabric of society--
dying, disappearing because of this little virus.
  Every time I go to Africa--last year I was there in September--I am 
overwhelmed by the devastation this little vicious virus causes. To me, 
and I know to the distinguished Senator occupying the chair now, who 
also has spent his life studying disease and viruses and the like, it 
is remarkable because in 1983 we didn't know this thing existed. It 
probably didn't really exist as we know it today in the United States 
of America in 1983, when both I and probably the distinguished Senator 
in the chair were not that old. I was in my training at the time. To 
think that little virus is devastating the world in the way it has over 
a 21-year period is just unbelievable to me.
  If you walk through a village in Africa, or parts of Africa, it 
becomes apparent what this virus is doing. You see older people and you 
see little kids running around. What you do not see is people from 
about 19 years of age to 28

[[Page 14965]]

or 30 years of age, or 35, right through that age. That whole layer of 
the population has been wiped out by this virus. That segment is also 
usually the most productive, strongest part of a society and it is just 
wiped out.
  The young boys and girls you see running around, if you project that 
out, are left to fend for themselves. They might live with their 
grandparents or great-grandparents, but they generally don't have the 
sort of mentors which that age would otherwise be provided. Mature 
beyond their years, these little kids watch hopelessly as their parents 
die, as their uncles die, as their aunts die. When I say 35 percent of 
the population has HIV/AIDS, that is what it means when you are on the 
ground.
  That is depressing. That is the depressing part. Despite that 
depressing picture, there is a lot of hope. If you look in countries 
such as Brazil and Thailand, there has been a real success in keeping 
those infection rates down. Uganda has achieved remarkable success.
  President Museveni, from Uganda, was here a few weeks ago. I had the 
opportunity to speak with him about their success. They have used some 
innovative programs. They have really pioneered programs we know are 
successful.
  The one we talk about the most and has become a model for much of the 
global effort is the ABC program, a program of A, abstinence; B, be 
faithful to your partner; and C, condom use if the A and B are 
ineffective. So the strategy of ABC was pioneered in Uganda. It took 
Presidential leadership there. President Museveni was the President 
who, in every speech, talked about HIV/AIDS, which really wasn't 
popular when he started, about 15 years ago, to do so.
  The strategy incorporates both reducing the risk through the use of 
condoms with a strategy of risk avoidance through the message of 
limiting sexual partners.
  It is totally preventable. The disease itself, this little virus and 
the contagiousness of the virus is totally preventable.
  The comprehensive strategy is working. Uganda's HIV/AIDS infection 
rate has steadily declined. In 2001, the infection rate for 18- to 49-
year-olds was 5 percent. In Kampala, which is a major urban center in 
Uganda, where HIV/AIDS once raged, aggressive intervention lowered it 
from 29 percent down to 8 percent.
  I had the opportunity to operate at a wonderful hospital in Kampala 
about 2 years ago, 3 years ago. So to see that remarkable progress, 
cutting the infection rate from 30 down to 8 percent, has been 
remarkable.
  The world community must respond. The world community is responding. 
The United States of America has stepped up to lead the battle. Last 
year, Congress passed and the President signed a global HIV/AIDS bill 
which projects out $15 billion over 5 years for the prevention and 
treatment of HIV/AIDS. At the end of the program's first year, over 
200,000 people will be on treatment with 1.1 million people receiving 
care. In the past few months, the U.S. has released $865 million in 
HIV/AIDS funding to the 15 nations receiving those emergency funds.
  This year, America will provide $2.4 billion to combat that HIV/AIDS 
virus, as well as tuberculosis and malaria, two other infectious 
diseases that cause about between 1 and 2 and 3 million deaths in 
addition, each year, respectively. Ultimately, America's efforts will 
prevent 7 million new infections. It will provide antiretroviral drugs 
for 2 million HIV-infected people. It will provide care for 10 million 
HIV-infected individuals with AIDS and AIDS orphans. This will bring 
hope to millions of people around the world. It is a lofty goal of a 
great and compassionate nation.
  I have taken the opportunity to mention this today, on Friday, 
because much of that is from the report of last Tuesday.
  Next week there will be some very significant meetings. Over 15,000 
scientists and AIDS activists and advocates will gather in Thailand, in 
Bangkok, for the International AIDS Conference. They will look at 
prevention efforts. They will look at treatment efforts. They will look 
at real-life experience. They will look at what works and what does not 
work, so we can better address this global epidemic.
  Americans can be proud of our commitment and compassion. The United 
States of America is the most generous nation in the world today in 
fighting HIV/AIDS and providing substantial resources for that 
prevention, care, and treatment for those infected with the virus.
  We will spend about $2.4 billion on global AIDS this year and an 
estimated $2.8 billion next year. We have already provided over $1.1 
billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. 
That is approximately one-third of all the commitments to the fund. Our 
country, the United States of America, has provided about one-third of 
all the commitments to the fund and the rest of the world makes up the 
other two-thirds.
  We can't do it alone. It is going to take participation of the 
recipient countries. They must do their part to promote effective 
prevention and treatment strategies. It takes demonstrated national 
leadership such as the leadership of President Museveni in Uganda. Our 
friends and our allies must continue to provide firm financial and 
moral support. Nations are contributing. We want to encourage them to 
contribute more, and that is reflected in the statistics from last 
week. But demand continues to outstrip or grow faster than supply. 
Other wealthy nations must increase their contributions. We cannot rely 
on the Global Fund alone to combat global HIV/AIDS. It takes sustained, 
focused efforts on the part of individual countries, rich and poor, to 
lift the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Our Congress, this body, and the President 
of the United States have shown tremendous leadership in the battle 
against HIV/AIDS.
  It is my hope this week's U.N. report and next week's conference will 
not just be occasions for more talk but will be catalysts for greater 
action on the part of the world's leaders. History is going to judge 
whether the global community stood by and permitted one of the greatest 
destructions of human life in recorded history or stepped in and 
performed one of its most heroic rescues. America has chosen the 
latter. Let us hope the world will, too.

                          ____________________