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Wednesday, July 16, 2003

2ND IAS CONFERENCE ON HIV PATHOGENESIS AND TREATMENT
========================================
1. Meeting of Global Fund Supporters Overshadowed by Funding Shortfall

2. Bush Administration Ready To Use Generic Antiretroviral Drugs To Fight
AIDS in Africa

3. Free Anti-Tuberculosis Medicines Should be Made Widely Available to
HIV-Positive People, WHO Report Says

4. Drug-Resistant HIV Strains Found in One Out of Every 10 Newly Infected
European Patients

5. Daily Administration of Antiretroviral Drug for Six Months Reduces
Infants' Risk of Contracting HIV Through Breastmilk


DRUG ACCESS
========================================
6. Participants Drop Out of Chinese Antiretroviral Distribution Program
Becuse of Side Effects, Lack of Medical Staff

7. TAC Leaks South African Government Report on National HIV/AIDS Treatment
Program


GLOBAL CHALLENGES
========================================
8. PBS' 'NewsHour' Examines Success of Brazil's Efforts To Fight HIV/AIDS


MEDIA & SOCIETY
========================================
9. Rock Musician Carlos Santana Raises $2 Million for South African AIDS
Group on 23-City Concert Tour


OPINION
========================================
10. Congress Should 'Adequately Fund' Global AIDS Initiative, Sen. Rick
Santorum Says in Washington Times Opinion Piece

****************************************

2ND IAS CONFERENCE ON HIV PATHOGENESIS AND TREATMENT


1. Meeting of Global Fund Supporters Overshadowed by Funding Shortfall

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18830

A meeting of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
supporters today in Paris is being overshadowed by a substantial funding
shortfall, which is estimated to be at least $500 million for this year
alone, Agence France-Presse reports. The meeting coincides with the end of
the four-day International AIDS Society's 2nd Conference on HIV
Pathogenesis and Treatment (Ingham, Agence France-Presse, 7/16). The
Global Fund has pledges totaling $4.7 billion through 2008. The fund needs
$3 billion to cover grants through the end of 2004 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS
Report, 6/20). The Global Fund board in June agreed at a meeting in Geneva
that it would limit disbursements for the third round of grants, which are
under review, to the amount of funds currently available based on the
proposals' merits. The fund has received more than 200 proposals from 85
countries requesting a total of $2 billion over two years, and about half
of those proposals will likely be recommended to the board for approval
(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/9). AIDS advocates have estimated that
the fund's shortfall is about $600 million. However, HHS Secretary and
Global Fund Chair Tommy Thompson said that the exact amount of the
shortfall is not yet clear. "It's a ballpark figure -- nobody knows for
sure," he said, adding, "We won't know the exact amount until we find out
how many more contributions come in, but we will be short" (Black, BBC
News, 7/16).

No New Money


Thompson yesterday signaled that the United States, which is the largest
single contributor to the fund, "had done enough for now," according to
Agence France-Presse (Agence France-Presse, 7/16). President Bush in May
signed into a law a five-year, $15 billion AIDS initiative (HR 1298), which
authorizes $3 billion a year for five years for international HIV/AIDS
programs, with up to $1 billion in fiscal year 2004 going to the Global
Fund. However, the amount of funding actually appropriated may be less than
$1 billion and is contingent upon the contributions of other countries.
Under the measure, the United States can contribute up to $1 billion to the
fund only if that amount totals no more than one-third of the fund's total
contributions. Therefore, in order for the total $1 billion to be
appropriated, other nations must contribute more money. The House so far
has approved a little more than $2 billion for all international AIDS
efforts for fiscal year 2004. The Senate on Thursday approved 78-18 a
nonbinding resolution calling for $3 billion in FY 2004 to fight AIDS
overseas, even if the amount exceeds the ceiling mandated in Congress'
annual budget resolution (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/15). Despite
calls from former South African President Nelson Mandela yesterday, French
President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the
European Union to at least match the U.S. pledge, the European Commission
yesterday made it clear that it would not make a new contribution to the
fund (Hirschler, Reuters, 7/15). European Union officials said that its 15
member countries are already doing more than the United States in fighting
the disease, saying that its members have pledged a total of $2.37 billion
to the Global Fund. European Commission spokesperson Jean-Charles Ellermann
yesterday said, "We are not going to be putting new money on the table"
(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/15).

Reaction


Several dozen AIDS advocates held a rally outside the meeting to demand
that wealthy countries provide donations to the Global Fund to help buy
antiretroviral drugs for developing nations. They chanted slogans and
carried 16 body bags, representing the estimated 16,000 people who die each
day from AIDS-related complications, TB and malaria. Jeffrey Sachs,
director of the Columbia University Earth Institute, said, "The United
States is spending $4 billion a month to station troops in Iraq. ... [T]hat
shows how out of balance the world is right now." He added, "There's
movement (on money) but it's inadequate to the task. When you think about
how pathetic the size of the contributions is, it's startling we have to
struggle the way we do" (Agence France-Presse, 7/16). Lucy Matthew,
European director of DATA, which encourages debt relief, trade and
anti-AIDS efforts in Africa, said, "There is still time for Europe to lead
not lag in the fight against AIDS. But they have to believe in their
hearts that this is an emergency" (Reuters, 7/15). Pierre-Andre Wiltzer,
France's minister for cooperation, who chaired the meeting with Thompson,
said that it is vital for fund supporters to "scale up support" and provide
"regular and foreseeable" resources to carry out long-term programs. "We
have to think about the best way for reaching this goal," Wiltzer said,
adding, "If the fund fails, we won't get a second chance and we won't be
able to say we didn't know anything about it." Thompson said that the
meeting was intended to be a forum for discussing practical problems and
assessing progress but was not meant to be a "pledging session." He added,
"It's going to take a very concentrated and coordinated effort among
governments, private entities and individuals to win this battle and we're
going to need all the help that we can get. This is a battle we cannot
afford to lose ... this is a war like no other war we've been involved in"
(Agence France-Presse, 7/16).

* A webcast of the meeting will be available at 3 p.m. ET tomorrow.

2. Bush Administration Ready To Use Generic Antiretroviral Drugs To Fight
AIDS in Africa

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18831

The United States plans to purchase low-cost generic antiretroviral drugs
as part of President Bush's global AIDS initiative, U.S. officials said at
a press conference during the International AIDS Society's 2nd Conference
on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment, Reuters reports (Hirschler, Reuters,
7/15). Bush in May signed into a law a five-year, $15 billion AIDS
initiative (HR 1298), which aims to prevent seven million new HIV
infections, provide care for 10 million people living with the disease and
provide treatment to two million HIV-positive people. The House so far has
approved a little more than $2 billion for international AIDS efforts for
fiscal year 2004. The Senate on Thursday approved 78-18 a nonbinding
resolution calling for $3 billion in FY 2004 to fight AIDS overseas, even
if the amount exceeds the ceiling mandated in Congress' annual budget
resolution (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/15). During his recent tour of
five African nations, Bush said that the United States supports allowing
developing countries to produce generic versions of antiretroviral drugs,
but he did not change the country's position on a 2001 World Trade
Organization proposal on the issue. WTO talks over generic drug access
have been stalled since members missed a Dec. 31, 2002, deadline to reach
an agreement. U.S. negotiators in February refused to sign a deal under the
Doha declaration to allow developing nations to override patent protections
to produce or import generic versions of drugs to combat public health
epidemics, including HIV/AIDS, unless wording was included to specify which
diseases constitute a public health epidemic. However, the United States
last month made a concession by dropping its demand that the agreement
apply only to a specified list of diseases (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report,
7/10).

Advocates' Concerns


Some advocates have expressed concern that the Bush administration would
favor the brand name pharmaceutical industry in implementing its global
AIDS initiative, a theory that "gathered pace" when Bush named Randall
Tobias, the former chair and CEO of drug maker Eli Lilly, as global AIDS
coordinator, the Financial Times reports (Dyer, Financial Times, 7/16).
However, HHS Secretary and Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria Chair Tommy Thompson and National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said that funds from the
global AIDS initiative would be spent on the "cheapest good-quality drugs,"
London's Guardian reports. Fauci said, "We certainly want to get the
highest quality at the lowest price," adding, "It may mean the (major)
companies bringing their price low enough to be part of the program. It
does not exclude generic drugs" (Boseley, Guardian, 7/16). Thompson also
said that he is "confident" that Congress will appropriate at least $2
billion to begin the global AIDS initiative, AP/Long Island Newsday
reports. "The process is working. It is moving faster than it has in a
long time in Congress," Thompson said. He added that the full amount
appropriated will likely be more than $2 billion, but he was uncertain if
the funding would reach $3 billion, according to AP/Newsday. Thompson
said, "I think we are going to be able to do a great deal" (Ross, AP/Long
Island Newsday, 7/15).

3. Free Anti-Tuberculosis Medicines Should be Made Widely Available to
HIV-Positive People, WHO Report Says

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18832

The World Health Organization yesterday at the International AIDS
Society's 2nd Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment in Paris
released a report calling for free anti-tuberculosis drugs and improved
health care for HIV-positive people, Reuters reports. About 33% of the 42
million HIV-positive people worldwide also have TB, and 90% of them will
die within a few months without treatment, which typically costs about $10
per person (Sithole, Reuters, 7/15). HIV weakens the immune system,
making patients more susceptible to TB co-infection (Naik, Wall Street
Journal, 7/16). The region hardest hit by HIV-TB co-infection is
sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV has contributed to a 6% rise in the annual
number of TB cases. Of an estimated 30 million people living with HIV in
sub-Saharan Africa, 70% of them do not have access to TB drugs, according
to the report. In addition, an even greater crisis could be emerging in
India, where 4.5 million people have TB -- the highest TB caseload in the
world -- and where 1.8 million new HIV cases are reported each year. In
addition, the report said that WHO funding for a plan to stop the spread of
TB by 2005 is $3.8 billion short of the necessary $9.1 billion (Reuters,
7/15). Mario Raviglione of WHO and Stop TB said that China, Indonesia and
Nigeria need to strengthen their approach to TB prevention and treatment.
WHO has been pushing countries to adopt the agency's TB treatment
guidelines, "Directly Observed Treatment, Shortcourse," which include
recommendations for diagnosis, treatment and tracking of cases (Wall Street
Journal, 7/16). Raviglione added, "We need to increase our efforts to
address the deadly synergy between [HIV and TB], each of which is fueling
the other's impact" (Reuters, 7/15).

'Disturbing' Style


WHO "departed from the usually sedate style" of its reports in order to
"step up" warnings about the interaction of HIV and TB, according to the
Wall Street Journal (Wall Street Journal, 7/16). The publication, prepared
for WHO by editors and photographers from Colors magazine, includes
"disturbing" pictures of people affected by TB in order to depict the
"enormous challenges faced every day" by health care workers, according to
Renzo di Renzo, editor-in-chief of Colors (WHO release, 7/15). Colors is
published by United Colors of Benetton, the Italian fashion house that
sometimes uses graphic images in its ad campaigns (Wall Street Journal,
7/16).

* A webcast of the press conference held to release the report is available
online.

4. Drug-Resistant HIV Strains Found in One Out of Every 10 Newly Infected
European Patients

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18833

Nearly one out of every 10 Europeans newly infected with HIV has a
drug-resistant strain of the virus, according to a study released today at
the International AIDS Society's 2nd Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and
Treatment in Paris, Reuters reports. David van de Vijver of the University
Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and colleagues examined 1,633
HIV-positive patients from 17 European countries and found that nearly 10%
of the newly infected patients were resistant to at least one
antiretroviral drug and 1.7% were resistant to two or more of the drugs
(Hirschler, Reuters, 7/16). The researchers found that 6.9% of the
patients had HIV strains that were resistant to nucleoside reverse
transcriptase inhibitors, 2.6% were resistant to non-nucleoside reverse
transcriptase inhibitors, and 2.2% were resistant to protease inhibitors
(McNeil, New York Times, 7/16). While smaller populations have been
examined in San Francisco and other cities in the United States and
Switzerland, the new study is the largest of its kind and the first to
offer a "reliable measure" of drug resistance across a broader population,
Charles Boucher, lead author of the study, said, according to the St.
Petersburg Times (St. Petersburg Times, 7/16). The spread of drug
resistance in Europe suggests that HIV-positive people who are taking
antiretroviral drugs are returning to high-risk behaviors such as
unprotected sex or needle sharing, according to van de Vijver (Reuters,
7/16). The results of the study also suggest the need for increased
adherence to HIV treatment regimens and for health workers to consider
instituting an "order of battle" approach to prescribing antiretroviral
drugs, restricting certain drugs for use later in the treatment process,
according to the Times. Experts emphasized that the possibility of
drug-resistant HIV strains developing should not be a reason to deny
antiretroviral treatment to developing nations but that better guidelines
on the medicines' use should be developed before drug access programs are
instituted (New York Times, 7/16).

5. Daily Administration of Antiretroviral Drug for Six Months Reduces
Infants' Risk of Contracting HIV Through Breastmilk

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http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18834

Giving infants a daily dose of antiretroviral therapy from birth through
the entire breastfeeding period could significantly lower infants' risk of
contracting HIV through breastmilk from their HIV-positive mothers,
according to a study presented yesterday at the International AIDS
Society's 2nd Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment, the AP/Boston
Globe reports (Ross, AP/Boston Globe, 7/16). Researchers participating in
the study, known as SIMBA -- "Stopping Infection from Mother to Child via
Breastfeeding in Africa" -- administered a short course of
GlaxoSmithKline's Retrovir and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Videx to pregnant
women and counseled them on how to breastfeed. Researchers then
administered GSK's Epivir or Boehringer Ingelheim's Viramune to the women's
infants for up to six months after birth (Sithole, Reuters, 7/15).
Researchers administered the drugs in syrup form to 397 infants in Rwanda
and Uganda. They found that only 1% of the infants receiving the drugs
contracted HIV through breastmilk, compared with 15% of the infants who did
not receive treatment (AP/Boston Globe, 7/16). The researchers concluded,
"The combination of antiretroviral prophylaxis and counseling on
breastfeeding practices in infants receiving breastfeeding from
HIV-1-infected mothers is extremely effective in preventing
mother-to-infant transmission." Joep Lange, IAS president and lead
researcher of the study, said, "It would be best to start providing
universal access to treatment for people in developing countries, but in
the absence of that, this intervention should be recommended immediately"
(Reuters, 7/15).

DRUG ACCESS


6. Participants Drop Out of Chinese Antiretroviral Distribution Program
Becuse of Side Effects, Lack of Medical Staff

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18835

China three months ago began providing free antiretroviral drugs to
thousands of HIV-positive people who contracted the disease through unsafe
medical practices at government-sponsored blood-collection stations, but
the drugs' side effects and a lack of qualified medical staff have led many
people to drop out of the program, experts said yesterday, Agence
France-Presse reports (Sui, Agence France-Presse, 7/15). According to the
United Nations, China had between 800,000 and 1.5 million HIV-positive
people as of December 2001, and the number could grow to 10 million by 2010
(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/15). The Chinese government earlier this
year began producing and distributing generic versions of antiretroviral
drugs, including zidovudine, didanosine and stavudine, along with two
imported brand-name drugs -- Stocrin and Combivir -- to HIV-positive people
in the provinces of Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui and Sichuan. An estimated
200 people are receiving drugs in Anhui, 420 in Hubei, 61 in Sichuan and a
program was just launched to distribute the drugs in Hunan. The Henan
program, which started in early April, has distributed drugs to about 2,550
people in Shangcai county, 200 in Xincai county and 120 in Queshan county.

Drug Adherence


However, in Henan's Shangcai county, 327 out of the 2,550 people in the
program have discontinued their treatment, Zhang Fujie, head of the program
in China's Center for Disease Control, said. An unnamed U.S.-based AIDS
worker said that the drugs being distributed are generic versions of older
antiretroviral drugs, which are "not as effective and ... have side effects
... so serious that a lot of people are dropping out." Zhang said,
"Domestically made medicine is not the best, but we're talking about how to
help the largest number of people under scarce resources." Zhang added
that the biggest problem is the lack of qualified doctors available to help
patients adhere to the drug regimen. The country has applied for a grant
from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to fund
HIV/AIDS treatment training for Chinese doctors. Zhang and international
AIDS workers however fear that a recent police raid on HIV-positive people
in a rural village could hurt their chances of the grant being approved
(Agence France-Presse, 7/15). Hundreds of policemen on June 22 raided the
Chinese village of Xiongqiao in Henan province, in what villagers said was
a response to recent protests calling for better access to medical care,
including HIV/AIDS treatment. Villagers said that the raid was in response
to protests earlier that month, in which as many as 200 villagers went to
government offices demanding medical coupons for treatment and the
construction of a hospital for which higher level government officials were
rumored to have already allotted money (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/8).

7. TAC Leaks South African Government Report on National HIV/AIDS Treatment
Program

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18836

The Treatment Action Campaign on Monday leaked the findings of a South
African government report that says the country could save the lives of 1.7
million people living with HIV/AIDS by 2010 if the government instituted a
universal antiretroviral access program, Reuters reports. The report also
says that 733,000 lives could be saved if only half of the HIV-positive
people who need the drugs received them. According to the report, 1.2
million people will need antiretroviral therapy by 2008, which could cost
between $1.7 billion and $2 billion; currently, the South African
government allocates $555 million for HIV/AIDS programs, Reuters reports
(Chege, Reuters, 7/14). The report was completed five months ago but was
not released, according to South Africa's Cape Times, which said that the
report was leaked to politicians, trade unions and others (Sylvester,
Associated Press, 7/14). South African government spokesperson Joel
Netshitenzhe said that the report is only a "very first draft," adding,
"There is no need for theatrics in dealing with the matter of HIV and
AIDS," referring to TAC's release of the document (Reuters, 7/14).

Working Toward Release


The South African Government Communication and Information System said in a
statement that the government has "consistently indicated that work was
continuing on finalizing the report for submission to the Cabinet, and that
the matter was being treated with utmost urgency." The statement also said
that TAC was made aware of the status of the report during a meeting three
weeks ago with the South African National AIDS Council. "At that meeting,
both sides accepted one another's integrity, and SANAC had hoped that the
interaction would set relations between it and TAC on a better footing,"
the statement said. According to the statement, a National Economic
Development and Labour Council meeting that was scheduled for yesterday
could be the impetus for TAC's action, stating, "[T]hey are trying
opportunistically to place themselves at the center of attention"
(Mohapeloa, BuaNews/AllAfrica.com, 7/14). Nonkosi Khumalo, a TAC
spokesperson, said, "The report confirms what we already know" (Associated
Press, 7/14). TAC said in a statement, "Our actions only publicly express
the frustration and pain of people who die quietly at home and in our
hospitals, in the face of a torrent of excuses and delays" (Carroll,
Guardian, 7/15).

World Bank


South Africa could be facing a "complete economic collapse" in the next
four generations if the government does not act to combat HIV/AIDS,
according to a World Bank draft report released this week, the Financial
Times reports. According to the report, the "real economic threat" from
the epidemic is its ability to kill off young adults, according to the
Times (Dyer, Financial Times, 7/15). HIV/AIDS could cause children to stop
going to school, and young adults could stop bearing and raising children,
leading to a "tremendous loss of human capital," VOA News reports (Bryant,
VOA News, 7/15). Clive Bell of the University of Heidelberg, one of the
authors of the report, said, "AIDS is damaging the [South African]
economy's tax base." The World Bank plans to publish the report as a
working paper, the Times reports (Financial Times, 7/15).

GLOBAL CHALLENGES


8. PBS' 'NewsHour' Examines Success of Brazil's Efforts To Fight HIV/AIDS

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18837

In the first of a two-part series, PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"
yesterday examined the success of Brazil's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS
(Dentzer, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 7/15). Over the past eight
years, Brazil has reduced its number of AIDS-related deaths by 50% due to
the country's focus on prevention and its distribution of free
antiretroviral drugs. Dr. Jong Wook Lee, the newly elected director general
of the World Health Organization, has appointed Paulo Teixeira, head of
Brazil's HIV/AIDS program, to formulate WHO's AIDS strategy. During the
past three years, 31 countries have adopted Brazil's prevention and
treatment guidelines (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/14). The PBS segment
examines the government's reasoning for producing generic versions of
antiretroviral drugs and issuing global pharmaceutical companies an
"ultimatum" to negotiate "deeply discounted prices." Brazil's pressure on
pharmaceutical companies "helped to spur global momentum for price cuts" on
HIV/AIDS medications, according to PBS. Brazil has prevented an estimated
90,000 AIDS-related deaths and produced savings from lower hospital costs
and other treatments by providing antiretroviral drugs -- which are tracked
through a nationwide computer system linking clinics and pharmacies
nationwide -- to an estimated 130,000 Brazilians. "We estimate in five
years about $2.2 billion saved only in direct consequence of this
strategy," Teixeira said. The segment also includes comments from Dr.
Humberto Costa, Brazil's health minister; Jorge Lima de Magalhaes,
production manager at the pharmaceutical division of Fiocruz, a
government-sponsored health agency; and Cristina Pimenta, executive
director of ABIA, a Brazilian non-governmental organization fighting
HIV/AIDS ("NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 7/15). The full transcript of
the segment is available online.

* The full segment is available online in RealPlayer. Expanded PBS coverage
of Brazil's fight against HIV/AIDS is also available online.

* A kaisernetwork.org HealthCast interview with Teixeira is available
online. Teixeira talks about Brazil's prevention and treatment strategies,
a recent World Bank meeting on resistance to HIV/AIDS drugs and his work
helping WHO develop an AIDS strategy.

* Additional information on AIDS in Brazil is available online through
kaisernetwork.org's Issue Spotlight on AIDS.

MEDIA & SOCIETY


9. Rock Musician Carlos Santana Raises $2 Million for South African AIDS
Group on 23-City Concert Tour

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18838

Rock musician Carlos Santana has estimated that his 23-city concert tour,
which finished on Monday night in Los Angeles, has raised at least $2
million for Artists for a New South Africa's Amandla AIDS Fund, the
AP/Miami Herald reports (Bridges, AP/Miami Herald, 7/15). Santana, who is
thought to be the first artist to donate all proceeds from a concert tour
to charity, hopes that he has spread a "spiritual virus" of compassion for
HIV-positive people. ANSA will use the money to fund prevention and
treatment programs and to care for AIDS orphans in South Africa, Sharon
Gelman, executive director of ANSA, said. In addition, Santana used the
tour as an opportunity to educate his fans about ANSA and the AIDS pandemic
through information tables at each concert stop and speeches by ANSA
artists in selected cities (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/9). "Because
of you, there will be education, prevention and there will be healing.
Thank you for coming forward with your beautiful heart and your energy,"
Santana told the audience at his Los Angeles concert (AP/Miami Herald,
7/15).

OPINION


10. Congress Should 'Adequately Fund' Global AIDS Initiative, Sen. Rick
Santorum Says in Washington Times Opinion Piece

Access this story and related links online:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=18839

President Bush's global AIDS initiative "needs to be adequately funded,
and it's [the job of] Congress to make that happen," Sen. Rick Santorum
(R-Pa.) writes in a Washington Times opinion piece (Santorum, Washington
Times, 7/16). Bush in May signed into a law a five-year, $15 billion AIDS
initiative (HR 1298), which aims to prevent seven million new HIV
infections, provide care for 10 million people living with the disease and
provide treatment to two million HIV-positive people. The House so far has
approved a little more than $2 billion for international AIDS efforts for
fiscal year 2004. The Senate on Thursday approved 78-18 a nonbinding
resolution calling for $3 billion in FY 2004 to fight AIDS overseas, even
if the amount exceeds the ceiling mandated in Congress' annual budget
resolution (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/15). In order for Bush to
"fulfill his promises of hope and partnership to the African nations
ravaged by HIV/AIDS" -- including the five nations he recently visited on
his five-day trip to Africa -- the administration and Congress "need to
work together to navigate the budget appropriations process and show that
our commitment is not just on paper," Santorum says, adding, "I hope
Congress will agree that meeting this responsibility is the right thing to
do because it has the potential to save millions of lives. We cannot
afford to let this historic opportunity pass us by." He concludes, "Our
humanitarian mandate is clear, and our commitment should be as well"
(Washington Times, 7/16).

________________________________________

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