Washington, DC – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) today was joined by 70 co-signers in a letter to House Appropriators urging them to approve an FY 05 AIDS appropriation of $3.6 billion – with at least $1.2 billion of such funds going towards the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.  Since the announcement of the 5-year, $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the President has twice sought to undercut this important initiative.  Although last year the initiative received $600 million less than the $3 billion promised, rather than making up this shortfall, the President’s FY 05 request again provides $200 million less than promised.

Lee and the co-sponsors wrote, “Regrettably the nature of the global AIDS pandemic demands that we provide more funding in the short term if we want to make any meaningful progress towards treating those who are infected and preventing the continued spread of this devastating virus.  That is why this year we are requesting $3.6 billion to make up for the shortfall in funding in FY04.”

“Perhaps most deserving of our support is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria.  So far the Fund has approved a total of $2 billion covering 224 programs in 121 countries and 3 territories.  These funds will help treat an additional 2 million people for tuberculosis and an additional half a million people for AIDS.  Based on its most recent projection of need, the Fund estimates it will require approximately $3.6 billion in FY05.  We believe that the US must seek to meet at least 1/3 of that figure, as laid out in the Global AIDS legislation, by providing $1.2 billion in the coming fiscal year.”

“We can also maximize our AIDS funding by providing an additional $36 million to support the World Health Organization’s efforts to build capacity for AIDS treatment in countries heavily affected by HIV. This WHO initiative builds upon the work of the United States, the Global Fund, the World Bank, and other international HIV/AIDS assistance programs in order to reach a goal of treating 3 million people by 2005.”

“We understand that this year we face an extremely tight budget, and that foreign assistance programs in particular may be subject to some reduction.  But we must respectfully request that any increase in AIDS funding not come at the expense of our other existing foreign assistance commitments.”

“Every year 3 million people die of HIV/AIDS, and another 5 million people become infected.  The longer we wait to ramp up our foreign assistance efforts, the greater the toll the virus will take on the social, political and economic systems of those heavily affected countries.”

 

 

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