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Democratic Office Press Releases - December 2005
HIV/AIDS Fight Needs More Real Commitment, Hyde and Lantos Urge
December 1, 2005
Rio de Janiero – To win the worldwide fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS, countries where the pandemic is still taking hold need to be more receptive to prevention programs that have proven effective elsewhere, two prominent members of the United States Congress said today.
Congressmen Henry Hyde (R-IL) and Tom Lantos (D-CA), the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the House International Relations Committee, observed World AIDS Day with an HIV/AIDS prevention presentation by Brazilian children, who rank among the populations most at risk to the disease. The program is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has taken a leadership role in the global effort to eliminate the threat form this pandemic.
Hyde and Lantos, the co-authors of the 2003 legislation establishing the mechanism for the expanded U.S. global AIDS prevention program, called on the governments of China, Russia, India and other countries that are starting to confront HIV/AIDS to open their doors to proven programs such as broad educational campaigns.
“The public awareness and prevention programs that non-governmental and faith-based organizations are carrying out in Brazil are very heartening,”
Hyde said. “I hope that Brazil and other countries will work with the United States to replicate these programs elsewhere in the developing world where HIV/AIDS prevalence rates, especially among children, continue to rise.”
“It is heartbreaking that the most fragile and defenseless among us can be subjected to the virus that causes AIDS, spread by the drug trade, or from mother to child, or by some other means,” Lantos said. “But it is encouraging to see that countries such as Brazil will open their doors to U.S. help with eradicating this pernicious pandemic. And it will be a disgrace and a grave danger if other places where the virus is emerging do not heed the lessons of those who have been at the forefront of this battle.”
Brazil accounts for more than half of all AIDS cases in Latin America and the Caribbean. AIDS was first reported in Brazil in 1983; the most recent figures indicate that more than 610,000 Brazilians are living with HIV, resulting in an adult prevalence of 0.7 percent. Among populations at greatest risk, prevalence is considerably higher, at 42 percent.
The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reports that “Brazil’s response to AIDS has benefited from consistently strong political support from the highest level of government. This has been translated into regulatory policies as well as a very clear and permanent allocation of financial resources at national, state and local levels.”
USAID is the world’s largest bilateral donor to HIV/AIDS prevention projects in Brazil. Support from USAID goes to research projects, counseling and protective services and public awareness campaigns.
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