Washington, DC — "Actions Are Louder Than Words, Mr. President, the Money Given to Date Sends the Message Loud and Clear: 'People with AIDS in Africa: Drop Dead'"
As President Bush meets today with Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Mozambique President Joaquim Alberto Chissano and Botswana President Fetus Gontebanye Mogae, AIDS activists in the Health GAP Coalition accused the U.S. president of talking about the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, but failing to take meaningful action.
"The world is witnessing what may be the worst and deadliest pandemic in history," said Paul Davis of Health GAP. "While UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for a commensurate response -- a global fund allocating $10 billion a year -- the president of the world's sole superpower has shamefully proposed spending a paltry $200 million."
President Bush's budget proposal proposes a $200 million allocation to the UN's Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
"Instead, Bush is in effect cutting the Global AIDS Fund off at its knees," continued Davis, "effectively bankrupting the Fund in its first year."
"Eight thousand people will die today of causes related to HIV/AIDS. Eight thousand more will die tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after," said Sharonann Lynch of Health GAP. "And while President Bush and his administration continue to talk, the death toll will continue to mount -- tragically and avoidably -- at increasing rates. It's past time to move beyond talk to action. We have treatments available that can save millions of lives, and abundant evidence that those treatments can be delivered effectively in poor countries. What we don't have is the money needed to buy drugs and deliver treatment."
UNAIDS estimates that 50 million people worldwide are HIV-positive, about half of them in Africa and the vast majority in poor countries. While treatment enables many HIV-positive people in rich countries to survive, an HIV infection is a death sentence for the vast majority in poor countries, where the cost of treatment is out of reach for all but a lucky few.
According to UNAIDS, the rate of infection, in 1999, in Botswana was over 35 percent, over 13 percent in Mozambique and nearly 3 percent in Angola.
"If President Bush were to speak honestly today," said Rob Weissman of Health GAP, :'Your people's lives,' he would say, 'aren't worth what we pay for a cup of coffee. And so we're giving to the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria less than the cost of a cup of coffee for each of our citizens."
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"Today is day for Americans to bow their heads in shame and mourning. Mourning for the 8000 people who die from AIDS-related causes every day -- though we have the medicines to treat them -- and shame because the U.S. government refuses to spend more on the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria than the cost of a single fighter jet," said Asia Russell of Health GAP.
According to economists at Harvard University, treatment could be provided to people with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa at costs of $500-$1,000 per person. 99 legislators signed a letter to President Bush requesting at least $1 billion dollars to the Global Fund and many legislators were seeking $1.2 billion.
"Basically, what it comes down to is a billion dollar shortfall means a million deaths," said Allison Dinsmore of Health GAP.
HEALTH GAP DEMANDS:
- For Fiscal Year 2002: An "emergency supplemental" by MAY DAY 2002 for $700 million to bring the total contribution to the Global Fund to $1 billion.
- For Fiscal Year 2003: Get $2.5 billion to fight Global AIDS--where at least half goes to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and half for U.S. bilateral programs such as the CDC and USAID.
