Washington, DC – In response to President Bush’s announcement today that Vietnam has been chosen as the 15th focus country for the Global AIDS initiative, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) issued the following statement:

“Vietnam faces real challenges in its struggle against HIV/AIDS, with intravenous drug users making up 60% of those infected. The President must embrace condom use as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy if we are to prevent the disease from spreading to the general population.  But we also need the President to live up to his promises and provide full funding to our Global HIV/AIDS initiative if we are to tackle not only Vietnam but India, Russia and China. That means that we need nothing less than $3.6 billion this year.

Congresswoman Lee, who co-authored the U.S. Leadership Against Global HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, also introduced H.R. 4449, which called for India to be the 15th country in the Global AIDS initiative.  

 

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