[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 5708-5709]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, in conjunction with the March celebration 
of Women's History Month, I rise today to salute a number of women who 
have dedicated themselves to the fight against global AIDS and HIV.
  This year the theme of Women's History Month is ``Women Inspiring 
Hope and Possibility.'' It may seem that phrase is too broad--and a 
month is too short--to fully recognize or appreciate the many and 
varied accomplishments of women throughout the years. From the medical 
professional who administers compassion along with her care, to the 
educator who inspires her pupils and allows them to achieve, to the 
mother who installs in her children feelings of worth and value, women 
foster hope and opportunity in their everyday actions.
  While traditionally this month is used to commemorate women from the 
past, it seems fitting that we take some time to look at modern-day 
heroines. Today, the women we honor are busy ensuring that HIV/AIDS 
will soon be relegated to a chapter in history--a terrible and 
sorrowful chapter but history nonetheless.
  There are 42 million people throughout the world living with HIV/
AIDS. We saw more than 3 million AIDS-related deaths in 2003. Each 
year, AIDS deaths claim more than the entire population of Chicago. 
Life expectancy has dropped below 40 years of age in 10

[[Page 5709]]

countries in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS has already erased 15 years of 
progress in the worse affected countries. Despite our efforts to date, 
this epidemic continues its deadly spread across the globe.
  More than 30 million HIV/AIDS sufferers are located in sub-Saharan 
Africa or Southeast Asia, where more than 60 percent of those infected 
are women. At especially high risk are teenage girls, who frequently 
marry older men at a very young age, and have little control over their 
destiny. This, in turn, puts the next generation of children in a 
position or susceptibility, as each year about 120,000 HIV-positive 
women become pregnant.
  As Americans, it is sometimes hard to see that the AIDS epidemic is 
not just across the ocean, it is in every part of this world. It is in 
our own backyard and poses a threat from every direction. Once a person 
has seen its devastation face to face, he or she will never be the 
same.
  Three years ago, I went to Africa and saw it myself. I saw it in 
Uganda, where I sat on a porch with mothers who were HIV-positive. They 
were gathering scrapbooks, photos, notes, and little memorabilia of 
their lives to leave to their children who were in the yard playing, 
children who had been orphaned already, or who, having lost one parent, 
were about to lose their second parent.
  I saw it as I traveled through Botswana and South Africa. A senior 
governmental official confided to me that whenever she travels from her 
busy capital to her home district, she loads up a large van with 
coffins and tents, and spends her time helping her constituents, one 
after another, bury their loved ones and grieve for their dead. She 
attends funerals, not parades. She gives away coffins, not bumper 
stickers. There are the politics of Africa in the era of AIDS.
  Most recently, as I traveled to India and Bangladesh, I witnessed the 
plight of the rural, female AIDS sufferer, and I saw those who were 
working to help her. I firmly believe that the future of India lies in 
the hands of its women.
  When you meet the victims of AIDS, when you see their courage, and 
see what little it takes to fight this AIDS epidemic successfully, as 
they have in Uganda and a few other countries, you realize that our 
leadership and our commitment at this moment in history can make such a 
difference.
  Two women, Dr. Helene Gayle and Dr. Amy Pollack, head organizations 
dedicated to providing that leadership and to preventing the spread of 
the disease through multifaceted intervention and family planning.
  Dr. Gayle, who cochairs the Global HIV Prevention Working Group for 
the Gates Foundation, previously worked for the Centers for Disease 
Control, CDC. There, she initiated HIV-prevention programs built around 
U.S. communities, as well as the CDC's global AIDS initiative. It is 
her belief that a comprehensive approach that includes prevention 
services, such as STD treatment, behavioral risk reduction, and 
voluntary HIV testing, along with HIV treatment and care for affected 
populations, is the cornerstone of stemming the AIDS pandemic. Wielding 
the influence of the Gates Foundation name and funding, she is in a 
unique position to ensure implementation of these methods, and she has 
done so with great success.
  Dr. Pollack's EngenderHealth organization was a 2002 United Nations 
Population Award laureate. Through her trips to Africa, Dr. Pollack, 
has borne witness to EngenderHealth's unique family planning 
initiatives, concentrating on the gap between the desire for 
contraception and access to it. With a goal of reducing the number of 
HIV-infected children and orphans, EngenderHealth assists clinics to 
close this gap.
  I salute the vision of Dr. Gayle and Dr. Pollack and commend them for 
their dedication and perseverance.
  As Americans become more aware of the pandemic proportions of this 
disease, especially in Africa and South Asia, increasing numbers of 
women are working for AIDS awareness, treatment and prevention.
  Sixteen years ago, three American women whose lives had been touched 
by this horrific disease sat around a kitchen table in Santa Monica, 
CA. Recognizing that there was a huge gap in understanding how infected 
children were affected by HIV/AIDS, they cofounded an organization to 
fund research for pediatric AIDS.
  Today, that organization, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS 
Foundation, is the premier not-for-profit in its field. Although 
Elizabeth Glaser, who cofounded the organization with Susan DeLaurentis 
and Susie Zeegan, passed away in 1994, her dream--and her name--live on 
through the foundation. Today we honor the legacy of Elizabeth Glaser 
and the work of these three women.
  I said at the outset of these remarks that it is traditional to honor 
the great historical contributions of women in connection with Women's 
History Month. The thousands of women working to find a cure, to help 
those who are suffering, or to cope with this disease in their own 
lives are surely making a lasting and positive impact on the history of 
the world.
  Mr. President, today I have paid tribute to just a few of these 
women. My only regret is that I cannot give much deserved thanks and 
recognition to all the women who have dealt with, or are dealing with, 
HIV/AIDS in their own lives, in their communities and around the world. 
In celebrating Women's History Month, we say to them: Thank you. Thank 
you for your commitment, your compassion, and your courage. Thank you 
for leading us into a better future.

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