[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: GEORGE W. BUSH (2001, Book I)]
[May 11, 2001]
[Pages 513-515]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following Discussions With President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi 
Annan
May 11, 2001

Global AIDS and Health Fund

    President Bush. It is my honor to welcome our friend the President 
of Nigeria to the Rose Garden. Mr. President, welcome to Washington, the 
Rose Garden. And of course, Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the 
United Nations, Mr. Secretary-General, thank you for coming.
    As well, we are joined by two members of my Cabinet, Secretary of 
State Powell, Secretary of Health and Human 
Services Tommy Thompson. I want to thank 
them both for being here. Scott Evertz, who is 
the Director of the National AIDS Policy Office, is with us--Scott, 
thank you for being here; and of course, Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Adviser.
    I am looking forward to meeting with the President on a range of 
issues that are important to our nations. This morning we've spoken 
about another matter that involves countless lives. Together we've been 
discussing a strategy to halt the spread of AIDS and other infectious 
diseases across the African Continent and across the world.
    The devastation across the globe left by AIDS, malaria, 
tuberculosis, the sheer number of those infected and dying is almost 
beyond comprehension. Suffering on the African Continent has been 
especially great. AIDS alone has left at least 11 million orphans in 
sub-Sahara Africa. In several African countries, as many as half of 
today's 15-year-olds could die of AIDS. In a part of the world where so 
many have suffered from war and want and famine, these latest 
tribulations are the cruelest of fates.
    We have the power to help. The United States is committed to working 
with other nations to reduce suffering and to spare lives, and working 
together is the key. Only through sustained and focused international 
cooperation can we address problems so grave and suffering so great.
    My guests today have been doing their part and more, and I thank 
them for their leadership. President Obasanjo last month led the nations 
of Africa in drafting the Abuja declaration which lays out crucial 
guidelines for the international effort we all envision. Secretary-
General Annan, too, has made this issue an urgent priority. He has been 
an eloquent voice in rallying the resources and conviction needed in 
this cause. When he visited the White House in March, we talked about 
the AIDS pandemic. We agreed on the goal of creating a global fund to 
fight HIV/AIDS, malaria,

[[Page 514]]

and tuberculosis. The G-8 has been discussing the potential fund.
    Our high-level task force chaired by Secretaries Powell and Thompson has 
developed a proposal that we have shared with U.N. officials, developing 
nations, and our G-8 partners. We will need ideas from all sources. We 
must all show leadership and all share responsibility.
    For our part, I am today committing the United States of America to 
support a new worldwide fund with a founding contribution of $200 
million. This is in addition to the billions we spend on research and to 
the $760 million we're spending this year to help the international 
effort to fight AIDS. This $200 million will go exclusively to a global 
fund, with more to follow as we learn where our support can be most 
effective.
    Based on this morning's meetings, I believe a consensus is forming 
on the basic elements that must shape the global fund and its use. 
First, we agree on the need for partnerships across borders and among 
both the public and private sectors. We must call upon the compassion, 
energy, and generosity of people everywhere. This means that not only 
governments can help but also private corporations, foundations, faith-
based groups, and nongovernmental organizations, as well.
    Second, we agree on an integrated approach that emphasizes 
prevention and training of medical personnel as well as treatment and 
care. Prevention is indispensable to any strategy of controlling a 
pandemic such as we now face.
    Third, we must concentrate our efforts on programs that work, proven 
best practices. Whenever the global fund supports any health program, we 
must know that it meets certain essential criteria. We must know that 
the money is well spent, victims are well cared for, and local 
populations are well served.
    That leads to the fourth criterion, namely that all proposals must 
be reviewed for effectiveness by medical and public health experts. 
Addressing a plague of this magnitude requires scientific accountability 
to ensure results.
    And finally, we understand the importance of innovation in creating 
lifesaving medicines that combat diseases. That's why we believe the 
fund must respect intellectual property rights as an incentive for vital 
research and development.
    This morning we have made a good beginning. I expect the upcoming 
U.N. Special Session and this summer's G-8 summit in Italy to turn these 
ideas into reality. This is one of those moments that reminds us all in 
public service why we're here. It challenges us to act wisely and act 
together and to act quickly. Across the world at this moment, there are 
people in true desperation, and we must help.
    It is now my honor to bring to the podium the President of Nigeria. 
Mr. President.
    President Obasanjo. Mr. President, Secretary-General of the U.N. I 
am particularly grateful to you, President Bush, for making this 
ceremony to coincide with my visit to you here at the White House in 
Washington, DC, on your very kind invitation.
    When African leaders gathered in Abuja 2 weeks ago to indicate their 
unflinching commitment to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS and related 
diseases, the joint message of the Secretary of State and the Secretary 
of Health was brought to us as a message of hope from the United States 
of America. Today, Mr. President, you have begun to concretize that hope 
for Africa and particularly for millions of Africans infected and 
affected by HIV/AIDS.
    We are still far from the $7 billion to $8 billion annually that 
experts reckon will be needed to make impression on the ravaging effects 
of this dreadful scourge. But with this beginning, and just the 
beginning as you have kindly emphasized, for the U.S., all nations, 
governments, foundations, private individuals, and private sector and, 
indeed, all humankind who are stakeholders in the health of humanity are 
challenged

[[Page 515]]

and called upon to make contributions to the global trust fund for HIV/
AIDS and related diseases.
    Mr. President, I thank you, on behalf of all AIDS sufferers in the 
world, but particularly on behalf of all AIDS sufferers in Africa, for 
launching the global fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic.
    President Bush. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Secretary-General.
    Secretary-General Annan. President Bush, President Obasanjo. I wish 
to thank you, President Bush, for committing yourself today to placing 
the United States at the forefront of the global fight against HIV/AIDS. 
It is a visionary decision that reflects your Nation's natural 
leadership in the United Nations, as well as your recognition of the 
threat posed by this global catastrophe.
    To defeat this epidemic that haunts humanity and to give hope to the 
millions infected with the virus, we need a response that matches the 
challenge. We should now build on the remarkable progress over the last 
year in galvanizing global awareness of the threat of HIV/AIDS.
    I believe we can all agree on five key objectives for our response: 
First, to ensure that people everywhere, particularly young people, know 
what to do to avoid infection; second, to stop perhaps the most tragic 
form of HIV transmission, from mother to child; third, to provide 
treatment for all those infected; fourth, to redouble the search for 
vaccine as well as cure; and fifth, to care for all those whose lives 
have been devastated by AIDS, particularly the orphans, and there are an 
estimated 13 million of them worldwide today, and their numbers are 
growing.
    As we declare global war on AIDS, we will need a war chest to fight 
it. We need to mobilize an additional $7 million to $10 million a year 
to fight this disease worldwide. The global AIDS and health fund that I 
have called for as part of this total effort would be open to the 
nations, as you heard from the two Presidents, from governments, civil 
society, private sector, foundations, and individuals--all hands on 
deck. And the resources provided must be over and above what is being 
spent today on the disease and on development assistance to poor 
countries.
    This founding contribution by the U.S., with the promise to do more, 
will encourage or energize others to act. Africa, of course, is the 
continent that is most profoundly affected by the spread of HIV/AIDS, 
and the continent most in need of hope for a better future.
    The peoples and the leaders of the continent are rising to the 
challenge, as President Obasanjo showed most recently by hosting the 
Abuja AIDS Summit. However, we must not forget that other parts of the 
world, from the Caribbean to Asia to Eastern Europe, are also 
confronting the spread of this virus and need urgent assistance.
    Mr. President, it is my hope that your commitment today will set an 
example for other leaders. When we meet at the General Assembly Special 
Session on HIV/AIDS on the 25th of June in New York City, there will be 
a strong support for the Global AIDS and Health Fund. As that happens, I 
believe today will be remembered as the day we began to turn the tide.
    Thank you very much.
    President Bush. It has been my honor to host this very important 
announcement. It's also my honor to recognize two Members of the United 
States Congress who are going to work with this administration to make 
sure that our commitment becomes reality, Senator Frist and Senator Leahy. We're so 
thrilled you're here. We appreciate your vision, and we appreciate your 
leadership.
    Thank you all for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 10:10 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.