US Congress OKs 48 Billion dollar For Global AIDS Fight
The US House of Representatives voted Thursday to triple (tredoble) money to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world, giving new life and new punch to a program credited with saving or prolonging millions of lives in Africa alone.
The 303-115 vote sends the global AIDS bill to US President George Bush for his signature. Bush, who first floated the idea of a campaign against the scourge (svøbe) of AIDS in his 2003 State of the Union speech, supports the five-year, 48 billion US dollar (225 miliarder DKR) plan. One of the biggest official development assistance (ODA) programs in history.
The current 15 billion dollar act, which expires at the end of September, has helped bring lifesaving anti-retroviral drugs to some 1,7 million people and supported care for nearly 7 million.
The legislation approves spending of 5 billion dollar for malaria and 4 billion for tuberculosis, the leading cause of death for people with AIDS. It authorizes spending of up to 2 billion next year for the international Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
The program has focused on nations in sub-Saharan Africa that have been devastated by AIDS, but it has also provided help in the Caribbean and other areas hit by the pandemic now affecting about 33 million people worldwide. Even with advances in treatment, there are still about 7.000 new HIV infections every day around the world.
The US Senate attached a measure to the new bill, welcomed by AIDS advocacy groups, that ends a two-decade-old American policy that has made it nearly impossible for people who are HIV positive to get visas to the US as immigrants, students or tourists.
The Senate passed an identical bill on July 16. Despite authorizing the funds, Congress must still pass separate legislation to deliver the money. It is unclear whether that will occur in this election year as Democrats and Republicans wrangle over the budget.
President Bush had requested 30 billion dollar for 2009 to 2013, but has signaled a willingness to go along with the 48 billion for a signature program of his presidency.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
