    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
    [April 29, 2003]
    [Pages 392-395]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative
    April 29, 2003

        Thank you all very much for the warm welcome. Welcome to the
    people's house, the White House. It's my honor to welcome Members of the
    United States Senate and the United States Congress, members from the
    ambassadorial corps, and fellow Americans who deeply care about a
    neighbor in need.
        HIV/AIDS is a tragedy for millions of men, women, and children and a
    threat to stability of entire countries and of regions of our world. Our
    nations have the ability and, therefore, the duty to confront this grave
    public health crisis.
        We are here today to urge both Houses of the United States Congress
    to pass the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which will dramatically
    expand our fight against AIDS across this globe.
        I appreciate so very much Secretary of State Colin Powell's commitment to this issue. The fight against AIDS is
    an integral part of our Nation's foreign policy. I appreciate so very
    much Secretary Tommy

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    Thompson's dedication to this issue, as
    the chairman of the Global Fund. He knows this administration's passion
    about doing our duty. And I want to thank these members of my Cabinet
    for being here today.
        I also want to thank the chairman and the ranking members of the
    committees responsible for getting this legislation moving. Senator
    Lugar and Senator Biden
    Jr. both committed to this legislation, both working closely
    with our administration to get a good bill out of the Senate. And
    Senator Hyde and Senator Lantos have been at work already, and I appreciate their
    leadership as well. We're honored to have you here, and we're honored to
    have the other Members of the Congress with us today who care deeply
    about this issue.
        I also want to thank Tony Fauci. He
    works for the NIH. He is on the leading edge of finding the vaccines
    that will help those who suffer from AIDS. I love Tony's commitment to
    humans, to what's best for mankind. I'm glad you're here, Tony.
        I also want to thank Joe O'Neill, as the
    Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy. He works closely in my
    administration. I appreciate his advice. I appreciate his counsel.
        I want to thank Gaddi Vasquez, who's
    the Director of the Peace Corps, who is here. We just came from a
    roundtable discussion, and somebody came up with the idea, as this
    initiative goes forward and we get a good piece of legislation out of
    Congress, and when I sign it, hopefully before Memorial Day, one of the
    things we may want to do is to convert some of our Peace Corps to
    helping people in Africa who have got AIDS. So Gaddi, I want you to
    think carefully about that idea.
        I appreciate the ambassadors who are here from the African and
    Caribbean nations. It's good to see you all again. I think the last time
    we saw each other was in black tie. It's a lot better not being in black
    tie. [Laughter]
        I appreciate those who are members of the faith-based world who have
    answered the call, the universal call, to help a brother and sister in
    need. I want to thank you for being involved in the fight against AIDS.
    I want to thank those who have been involved in this struggle for a long
    period of time. I am confident that the progress that you have made to
    date will be progress that we can build upon and will build upon.
        Confronting this tragedy is the responsibility of every nation. For
    the United States, it is a part of the special calling that began with
    our founding. We believe in the dignity of life, and this conviction
    determines our conduct around the world. We believe that everyone has a
    right to liberty, including the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. We
    believe that everyone has a right to life, including children in the
    cities and villages of Africa and the Caribbean.
        Today, on the continent of Africa alone, nearly 30 million people
    are living with HIV/AIDS, including 3 million people under the age of 15
    years old. In Botswana, nearly 40 percent of the adult population--40
    percent--has HIV, and projected life expectancy has fallen by more than
    30 years due to AIDS. In seven sub-Sahara African countries, mortality
    for children under age 5 has increased by 20 to 40 percent because of
    AIDS.
        There are only two possible responses to suffering on this scale. We
    can turn our eyes away in resignation and despair, or we can take
    decisive, historic action to turn the tide against this disease and give
    the hope of life to millions who need our help now. The United States of
    America chooses the path of action and the path of hope.
        Since January 2001, America has increased total spending to fight
    AIDS overseas by nearly 100 percent. We've already pledged more than
    $1.6 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS and other infectious
    diseases. It is by far the most of any nation in the world today. And
    last year, I launched an initiative to help prevent the transmission of
    HIV from mothers to children in Africa and the Caribbean.

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        These are vital efforts, and they're important efforts. But we must
    do far more. So in January, I asked the House and the Senate to enact
    the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. With the approval of Congress, this
    plan will direct $15 billion to fight AIDS abroad over the next 5 years,
    beginning with $2 billion in 2004. We will create comprehensive systems
    to diagnose, to treat and to prevent AIDS in 14 African and Caribbean
    countries where the disease is heavily concentrated. We won't diminish
    our other efforts that are now ongoing. We will continue the funding
    that is in place, but we'll focus intensely on 14 ravaged countries to
    show the world what is possible.
        This is a terrible disease, but it is not a hopeless disease. At
    this moment, in nations around the world, governments and health
    officials, doctors and nurses, people living with the virus are proving
    that there is hope and that lives can be saved.
        We know that AIDS can be prevented. In Uganda--Madame
    Ambassador, thank you for being here--
    President Museveni Kugata has begun a
    comprehensive program in 1986 with a prevention strategy emphasizing
    abstinence and marital fidelity as well as condoms to prevent HIV
    transmission. The results are encouraging. The AIDS infection rate in
    Uganda has fallen dramatically since 1990. And in places throughout the
    country, the percentage of pregnant women with HIV has been cut in half.
    Congress should make the Ugandan approach the model for our prevention
    efforts under the Emergency Plan.
        We also know that AIDS can be treated. Anti-retroviral drugs have
    become much more affordable in many nations, and they are extending many
    lives. In Africa, as more AIDS patients take these drugs, doctors are
    witnessing what they call the Lazarus effect when one patient is rescued
    by medicine, as if back from the dead. Many others with AIDS seek
    testing and treatment, because it is the first sign of hope they have
    ever seen.
        Many past international efforts to fight AIDS focused on a
    prevention at the expense of treatment. But people with this disease
    cannot be written off as expendable. Integrating care and treatment with
    prevention is the cornerstone of my Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and
    we know it works.
        In Haiti, for example, the GHESKIO clinic--where are you, Jean;* there you are; thank you for coming--the director
    of which is here with us today, is providing care to 5,000 people with
    HIV. His report was optimistic about what is possible. He should be
    speaking up here, and not me, about success. He says in spite of
    miserable conditions in Haiti, he is optimistic that with the right
    strategy and the right approach, we can save lives. And I appreciate you
    coming, sir.
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        *White House correction.
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        In Uganda's capital, a clinical research center is providing anti-
    retroviral therapy to 6,000 patients with HIV. Health care workers from
    other centers in Uganda travel by truck and by motorcycle to rural
    villages and farms a few times each week, delivering critical medicine
    to patients who cannot reach the city for treatment.
        These are successful strategies and must be brought to a much larger
    scale. We've seen what works. I'm asking Congress to appropriate monies
    so we can expand what works to save lives.
        In sub-Sahara Africa, just 1 percent of the more than 4 million
    people needing immediate drug treatment are receiving medicine. That's
    about 50,000 people. The Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is designed to
    put major resources behind proven methods of care and treatment and
    prevention and multiply these goods--good works many times over.
        That's what we're going to do. The resources will be managed
    carefully, with flexibility, by a new global AIDS coordinator. And this
    coordinator will help us utilize and further develop successful clinical

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    networks. These networks link urban medical centers, staffed by
    specialist physicians and nurses, with rural clinics where HIV tests can
    be performed and medications distributed.
        And because so much of the health care in sub-Sahara Africa is
    provided by facilities associated with churches and religious orders, we
    must ensure that the legislation provides the greatest opportunity for
    faith-based and community organizations to fully participate in helping
    a neighbor in need.
        Our experts believe that the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will, in
    this decade, prevent 7 million new HIV infections, treat at least 2
    million people with life-extending drugs, and provide humane care for
    millions of people suffering from AIDS and, as importantly, for children
    orphaned by AIDS.
        Confronting the threat of AIDS is important work, and it is urgent
    work. It is a moral imperative for our great Nation. In the 3 months
    since I announced the Emergency Plan, an estimated 760,000 people have
    died from AIDS, 1.2 million people have been infected, more than 175,000
    babies have been born with the virus. Time is not on our side.
        So I ask Congress to move forward with speed and seriousness this
    crisis requires. But Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States cannot
    succeed by ourselves. I urge all nations and will continue to urge all
    nations to join with us in this great effort.
        Fighting AIDS on a global scale is a massive and complicated
    undertaking. Yet, this cause is rooted in the simplest of moral duties.
    When we see this kind of preventable suffering, when we see a plague
    leaving graves and orphans across a continent, we must act. When we see
    the wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not--America will
    not pass to the other side of the road.
        Thank you all. God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:08 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Representatives Henry J. Hyde of
    Illinois and Tom Lantos of California; President Yoweri Kugata Museveni
    and Ambassador to the U.S. Edith Grace Ssempala of Uganda; and Jean W.
    Pape, director, Haitian Study Group on Kaposi's Sarcoma and
    Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO).