WASHINGTON, 13 March: The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday approved the spending of 50 billion US dollar (ca. 245 milliarder DKR)) over the next five years to combat the health crises posed by AIDS and other diseases in Africa and elsewhere in the world.
President George W. Bush, chief advocate of the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that began five years ago, backed the bill and the legislation appears to be on course to becoming one of the few major achievements of Congress in a highly partisan election year.
The legislation would more than triple the 15 billion dollar allotted for the first five-year program, which expires this year. Under the program, targeted to 15 nations in Africa and the Caribbean, some 1,4 million people have received drugs to fight the virus and more than 6,6 million have received care.
The bill would ease stipulations in the 2003 act that required that one-third of all prevention money be spent on abstinence programs, instead directing the administration to promote “balanced funding for prevention activities.”
The Senate bill does not mention family planning. Negotiators in the House of Representatives, responding to concerns from anti-abortion groups that AIDS money might be used for abortions, worked out a provision allowing the use of funds for HIV/AIDS testing and counseling services in those family planning programs supported by the US government.
The 50 billion dollar in approved spending includes 4 billion to fight tuberculosis and 5 billion for malaria.
See also www.pepfare.gov
