| WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today joined Representative
Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jubilee 2000, and others to lend their support to the
launch of Global-AIDS-Alliance (GAA). GAA will design and implement
an aggressive worldwide campaign to address the HIV/AIDS crisis.
GAA is comprised of a coalition of AIDS advocacy organizations, public
health experts, Jubilee 2000, elected officials, religious and civil rights
leaders and others.
Schakowsky,
who has played an active role in Congress to promote fair U.S. trade and
monetary policies to help address the HIV/AIDS crisis, delivered the following
statement today during a Capitol Hill news conference.
“I
am proud to be here with many of the leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS,
and to lend my support to the launch of the Global Aids Alliance.
This is an important step in the struggle to raise awareness and combat
the scourge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and throughout the world.
This unique alliance brings together U.S. and international AIDS advocacy,
public health, and debt relief organizations, Congressional leaders, religious
leaders, and other committed citizens.
“The
Global AIDS Alliance will unite us in our struggle to raise awareness about
HIV/AIDS. Together, we will work to increase funding for crucial
programs and to expand the availability and affordability of life-saving
medications. And we will continue to work, with the help of Jubilee
2000, to accelerate multilateral debt relief efforts for developing countries
that are struggling to cope with the lethal combination of high AIDS rates
and extreme poverty.
“With
a broad pool of committed and motivated groups and individuals, we have
an even greater ability to get out our message. We are facing a worldwide
pandemic that has the potential of eclipsing all plagues of the past, all
wars, can destabilize nations and continents and the world. The time
is now to attack this pandemic with all of the resources we have available.
“We
need action in the Congress on legislative proposals that we have worked
together to craft, we need action from the White House and from our President,
we need public support for this effort; we need action in the international
community and for our allies to join us in this effort; and we need the
pharmaceutical industry to stop the practice of placing profits and patents
and intellectual property rights before human lives. This is a time in
history that requires the people of the world to develop the strategies
that will end this threat.
“I
look forward to working with my colleagues and the Global AID Alliance
to further the worthy goals of this coalition.” |
