For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
March 13, 2008

Statement by Mrs. Bush After a Visit
GHESKIO HIV/AIDS Center
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

11:35 A.M. (Local)

MRS. BUSH: We've just been talking with women who, some of them, are HIV positive and have gone on antiretrovirals, and they start to feel good. And so they're ready to work and support their families. So they have gotten microcredit loans, very small loans.

And a lot of the women that are here that have been able to start on antiretrovirals and feel good again and are healthy again were able to do that because of the President's Plan for Emergency Relief, the PEPFAR funds from the United States, as well as the Global Fund for AIDS and Malaria, and as well as all of the infrastructure here that GHESKIO has provided so that people can come here, can be tested and be treated.

So this shows why it's so important for people to be tested, to find out what your HIV status is, because you can go on antiretrovirals and be healthy and live a healthy, positive life.

Thank you all very much. Thanks. I'm very happy to be here in Haiti. Thanks, everybody. Merci beaucoup.

END 11:37 A.M. (Local)

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