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| Wilson Supports Global Efforts To Fight Disease |
April 02, 2008 |
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Bill passed by House will expand programs to fight malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM) today voted in favor of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 to increase funding and expand programs to fight global diseases. This bill reauthorizes the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiated in 2003.
The bill passed by the House today authorizes $50 billion over five years for programs to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria through 2013. Additionally, it adds Vietnam and 14 Caribbean nations to the list of PEPFAR focus countries and strengthens the “conscience clause” by clarifying that groups receiving funds are not required to endorse or utilize any activities of programs that they find morally or religiously objectionable.
“Tuberculosis, malaria and HIV are national and international public health concerns. Treating these diseases in other countries helps to prevent cases in the United States,” Wilson said. “Providing treatment and medicine to those who suffer from these infectious diseases around the world is a worthy cause, and one I will continue to fight for.”
This reauthorization also includes the language of the Stop TB Now Act, of which Wilson was the lead Republican sponsor. The Stop TB Now Act passed the House in November 2007, but its inclusion in the bill passed today allows it to be considered and quickly passed by the Senate.
The tuberculosis provisions in the reauthorization specifically provide $4 billion in international funding to reduce the 8.8 million cases of tuberculosis that are diagnosed worldwide each year. It includes funding for TB vaccine research and development efforts, as well as the prevention of the spread of extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) by establishing effective TB control programs around the world.
PEPFAR funding has supported antiretroviral HIV treatment for over one million individuals globally. In addition, it has supported the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission services for women during more than 10 million pregnancies and prevented an estimated 157,000 infant infections. The initial funding commitment of $15 billion, authorized in 2003, to countries most afflicted by these infectious diseases was the largest commitment to an international health initiative by a single nation.
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