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 Home > News & Policies > May 2003

For Immediate Release
May 28, 2003

Global Message

KEY POINTS: AIDS IN AFRICA

"The United States of America has a long tradition of sacrifice in the cause of freedom, and generosity in the service of humanity. We are the nation of the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift, and the Peace Corps. And now we are the nation of the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief."
- President Bush, 5/27/03

  • HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest medical challenges of our time. The disease has killed more than 20 million people. Today, 42 million more are living with HIV. Across Africa, this disease is filling graveyards and creating orphans and leaving millions in a desperate fight for their own lives.

  • This legislation authorizes $15 billion to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, making it the largest up front commitment in history for an international public health initiative.

  • America believes in the value and dignity of every human life. In the face of preventable death and suffering, we have a moral duty to act, and we are acting.

  • This Act of Congress addresses one of the most urgent needs of the modern world. Because of the AIDS pandemic, a child born today in sub-Sahara Africa has a life expectancy of 47 years. This disease falls most heavily on women and children. Nearly 60 percent of those infected by HIV in sub-Sahara Africa are women.

  • During his trip to Europe later this week, President Bush will challenge our partners and our friends to follow our lead and to make similar commitments -- so, together, we can save even more lives.

  • The suffering in Africa is great. The suffering in the Caribbean is great. America has the power and we have the moral duty to help.

    For more information, please visit /infocus/hivaids/