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Santorum's recent column in the Philadelphia Inquirer addressing Global HIV/AIDS and honoring World AIDS Day
We must lead way in global fight against AIDS
November 28, 2004
Sunday, November 28, 2004
We must lead way in global fight against AIDS
By Senator Rick Santorum
World AIDS Day comes at a very appropriate time of year. In the wake of celebration and Thanksgiving, families, communities, and churches nationwide and in Philadelphia will gather on December 1st to highlight the pandemic of HIV/AIDS—giving voice to the millions of people suffering worldwide.
Combating HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest challenges of our time and World AIDS Day reminds us all that America has the responsibility to extend aid and adequate funding to the men, women, and children affected by HIV/AIDS around the world.
Nearly two years ago, President George W. Bush addressed the nation with a major new initiative to combat global HIV/AIDS. The President proposed spending $15 billion over 5 years to address the international HIV/AIDS pandemic. A year earlier, President Bush outlined another U.S. foreign aid proposal to reduce poverty in suffering countries, the Millennium Challenge Account. What the President began, we must finish because HIV/AIDS continues to destroy individuals, families, and communities.
Our humanitarian mandate is clear, and our commitment should be as well. More than half of the world’s HIV/AIDS-infected population lives within the borders of just 14 African and Caribbean nations. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, since the beginning of the epidemic two decades ago, more than 20 million people have died of AIDS, 15 million in Africa alone. Over 70 percent of those currently living with HIV, 28.5 million out of 40 million, live in sub-Saharan Africa. These countries bear the incredibly disproportionate burden of grief and social deterioration that the widespread illness brings.
At the same time, the economic impact of a diseased workforce on the welfare of children, families, and U.S. companies operating in Africa cannot be overemphasized. That’s why, to reach out to those nations that are falling deeper into need and despair, the President requested an increase in foreign economic assistance beginning in 2004 through the Millennium Challenge Account. The Millennium Challenge Account would provide an additional $5 billion in grants over the next three years, above and beyond existing aid, to poor countries that adopt sound economic policies. Countries are able to receive grants by showing their commitment to good governance, the rule of law, human rights protection, and a transparent economic system.
In Fiscal Year 2004, eight African countries received Millennium Challenge Account funding. These funds will not only reduce poverty by significantly increasing the economic growth of recipient countries, it will have a profound effect on the countries’ ability to combat public health crises such as HIV/AIDS.
Currently, 42 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. AIDS has reduced average life expectancy in some countries by more than 30 years. Virus-weakened immune systems make contagious diseases like tuberculosis and malaria difficult to ward off or control. Rates of infection in some African nations are as high as 40 percent. Currently, more than 2 million children under the age of 15 live with the HIV virus. More than 14 million children are orphaned because of HIV/AIDS, and this number continues to grow.
Last week, Congress passed the Omnibus Appropriations bill, which included $2.9 billion in total HIV/AIDS funding. Congress took a step in the right direction by securing a total of $350 million for the Global Fund and $1.5 billion for the Millennium Challenge Account. Providing these funds honors our commitment to preventing millions of new HIV/AIDS infections, caring for infected persons and AIDS orphans, treating infected individuals with antiretroviral drugs, and disseminating prevention messages that have the potential to save lives
I am thankful that Congress was able to work together to appropriate a significant amount of funding for the global HIV/AIDS effort and I am hopeful that when Congress returns in January, we will continue to work towards our commitment to ensure that the adequate funds for HIV/AIDS are there to deliver. Providing sufficient funds to fight global HIV/AIDS is the right thing to do and part of our responsibility as a nation.
Please join with me in recognizing World AIDS Day—we cannot afford to stand silent, or worse, inactive on this issue. Time is of the essence: every day, another 8,000 die of AIDS.
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