*EPF205 11/04/2003
Frist Reports On HIV in Africa, Senate Passes AIDS Legislation
(Senate Majority Leader renews U.S. commitment to helping) (820)

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Republican of Tennessee) October 30 renewed the U.S. Government's commitment to battling HIV/AIDS and other diseases in Africa as he reported on a recent fact-finding trip he led to the continent. Later the same day, the Senate passed a foreign aid bill that included $1.6 billion to fund President Bush's initiative to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis worldwide.

Frist said he called the meeting on Capitol Hill "to focus on Congress's commitment to battling HIV/AIDS," the pandemic that threatens the future of development and political progress on the continent, undercutting its ability to play a role in the increasing free flow of goods, people and information worldwide.

The Senate passage of the aid bill echoed that commitment since a large portion of the appropriation is earmarked for AIDS prevention, treatment and care programs in sub-Saharan Africa where about 70 percent of the world's AIDS cases arise. The funding is part of President Bush's $15 billion plan to fight infectious diseases in Africa and the Caribbean. The Senate version of the foreign aid bill will now be negotiated in a joint Senate/House of Representatives conference before final passage and presidential signature.

Frist, a heart surgeon and the only medical doctor in the Senate, termed the global HIV/AIDS pandemic as "the greatest humanitarian, moral and public health challenge of the last 100 years." Since it was first identified in the early 1980's, he said, the disease has killed 23 million people, most of them in Africa.

Frist said that during their visit to South Africa, Graça Machel, wife of former president Nelson Mandela, put the severity of the threat in perspective when she told him, "We are facing extinction because of AIDS."

The Senate leader was speaking following his delegation's travel through South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, and Namibia from August 19-29. The other five members of his group included: Senators Lamar Alexander (Republican of Tennessee), Norm Coleman (Republican of Minnesota), Mike DeWine (Republican of Ohio), Mike Enzi (Republican of Wyoming) and John Warner (Republican of Virginia).

Frist also made a side trip to Sudan where he performed a number of operations as part of a medical mission of mercy. He said the delegation skipped Uganda, which has also been hard hit by the disease, "because things are going pretty well" there, in large part due to the forthright leadership of President Yoweri Museveni in confronting the medical and social effects of AIDS head on.

According to Frist, "There is no part of the world" that has suffered as much from HIV/AIDS as "southern Africa. Our team had a productive trip. We met with doctors, patients, nurses, community leaders, government officials and activists, all of whom are doing the very best they possibly can to fight this pandemic and bring hope and relief to millions of people."

The delegation came back with a checklist of elements needed to fight HIV/AIDS effectively, which Frist enumerated:

-- Commitment of national leadership "at the top" to fight AIDS is an important factor in galvanizing government and society. Botswana's President Festus Mogae, who had himself tested for the disease on national television, was an outstanding example because "such an unambiguous message to the people has an impact. So in Botswana we saw notable progress," Frist said;

-- Testing is the "cornerstone in the prevention" of AIDS. "It only takes 15 minutes" and, besides determining infection, is valuable because it "provides a teachable moment ...when trust can be established," when health workers can talk to the patient about the disease, its prevention and treatment at clinics called Voluntary Community Testing (VCT) centers;

-- Medical infrastructures are essential to make sure treatment and drugs are properly administered, delivered and stored as well as that medical staff trained;

-- Palliative care is needed to provide treatment and support to those coping with AIDS and those who are dying. This also involves the care of orphans whose families have been wiped out by the disease, a far too common effect now seen in southern Africa;

-- Partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities, private firms, faith-based [religious] institutions are vital because "no one group can do it alone." In South Africa, Anglo-Gold Mining Company began an innovative prevention program after it discovered one in three of its employees were infected with the HIV virus;

-- Mass communications must be used to reach a wider audience to teach AIDS awareness, which Graca Machel suggested could be heightened by using "individual Bible verses to connect with people...to help reduce shame" about the disease; and

-- Traditional healers could become valuable educators. Although they might not understand the science behind the disease, they could advise those who come to them for treatment on the need to be tested and treated in a timely fashion.

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

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