*EPF413 07/27/00
U.S. Congress Rallies to AIDS Battle
(Global AIDS meeting inspires new urgency)(770)
By Charlene Porter and Corrie White
Washington File Staff Writers

Washington -- AIDS "may be the singular issue of our time," Republican Congressman James Leach declared before a crowded committee hearing room July 26, less than two weeks after adjournment of the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa.

Leach said it is "incumbent on this Congress to play the largest possible role in the largest possible way" to support international efforts to combat HIV-AIDS that now affects 34 million people worldwide. The remarks from the Iowa congressman are significant because, as the chairman of the House Banking Committee, he is a member of the House of Representatives leadership where support for international AIDS programs has not been strong.

A Leach-sponsored bill received final congressional approval July 26, directing the Secretary of the Treasury to work for creation of an international trust fund that would be devoted to providing aid and support for those nations battling HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

Leach was one of nine members of Congress who spoke at the Capitol Hill forum, with all of them emphasizing the urgency of U.S. involvement in the global campaign against the pandemic. The forum was sponsored by the House International HIV/AIDS Task Force.

Representative Jim McDermott, chairman of the task force and a Democrat from the state of Washington, said it is "very exciting" to see support in the Congress for anti-AIDS programs growing, along with recognition of the severity of the problem.

Representative Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California who attended the Durban meeting, said "issues of life and death" work to bring members of opposing political parties together, and expressed hope that that will be the outcome of the XIII International AIDS Conference.

American film and television actor Danny Glover, an AIDS activist, returned to the United States from the Durban conference "with renewed hope and renewed energy" about the world community's commitment to overcome the pandemic. He predicted that the next few months will be critical in mobilizing world support against the disease, and he implored the lawmakers to muster the political will and financial resources necessary to meet the challenge.

The Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) has predicted that it would cost $3,000 million to provide all the treatment and prevention programs that are really necessary in Africa alone. Seventy one percent -- about 24.5 million -- of the world's total number of HIV positive people live in Africa. Currently, international assistance for AIDS programs in Africa from all the various donors amounts to $350 million.

But the director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, Sandra Thurman, expressed optimism that Congress is on the verge of approving a $100 million dollar increase in U.S. AIDS funding requested by the Clinton Administration. Speaking at the Capitol Hill forum, Thurman said the XIII International AIDS Conference has resulted in a "renewed commitment" to fight the epidemic "on the long haul."

Thurman's assessment was echoed by another top member of the U.S. delegation to the meeting, Dr. Helene Gayle, the director of the National Center for HIV, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gayle said the Durban meeting has "changed the shape of people's thinking about the epidemic." Much of the conference focused on how the disease can devastate lives, but Gayle said that was "balanced by hope" in the discussions of active community-based programs that are helping to improve the quality of life for victims of the disease.

Thurman also emphasized the need for all sectors of society -- government, business, labor and churches -- to contribute to the international AIDS campaign. Merck & Company, Inc., a global, research-driven, pharmaceutical company, also joined the forum to explain its participation in the international AIDS campaign.

Jeff Sturchio, Merck's executive director of public affairs for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said "the only sustainable solutions to the challenge of HIV/AIDS in Africa will come from comprehensive approaches that draw on strong public-private partnerships."

In a partnership announced July 10 with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck will help Botswana strengthen its primary health care system over the next five years.

Merck and the Gates Foundation will dedicate $50 million to improve the overall state of HIV/AIDS care and treatment in the sub-Saharan country, which has the highest HIV infection rate in the world. According to UNAIDS, 35 percent of the adult population in Botswana was HIV-positive at the end of 1999.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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