Reply #12: It was 15 billion [View All]

[EC]

which was withdrawn because of lack of absinance programs in force...it's to be reviewed

on edit: here's some links and articles:

10 Reasons why the U.S. should commit $15 billion to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa NOW
February 27, 2004

by Africa Action & TransAfrica Forum

Africa Action and TransAfrica Forum believe that current debates among U.S. policy-makers and advocacy groups about “appropriate” funding levels to fight AIDS in Africa are misplaced, and fail to represent the urgency of the crisis.

In his 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush promised $15 billion to meet the “severe and urgent crisis” of HIV/AIDS in Africa & the Caribbean. But instead of making this “emergency” money available immediately, the President proposed to wait one year and then spread it out over another five years (2004 – 2008), starting with minor increases in funding and projecting gradual increases in out years. In 2003, while the U.S. stalled, some two and a half million Africans died of AIDS.

The release of the “U.S. Five-Year Global HIV/AIDS Strategy” on February 23, 2003 comes 13 months after the President’s promise, and nearly half a year after the new U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator took office. It aspires to turn the tide of the global pandemic, but offers such low funding levels as to make this impossible. It also centers on the creation of a new bureaucracy that competes with and undermines the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria.

We believe that the U.S. should provide at least $15 billion NOW to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. The need is clear, as more than 6,000 Africans are dying of AIDS every day. And there are many ways in which this money can effectively be put to use immediately to save lives and prevent the further spread of the pandemic. We are concerned that the U.S.’ failure to provide the resources needed to support African efforts to defeat HIV/AIDS is evidence that racism is a determinant in U.S. foreign policy, and that a double standard exists that devalues Black lives. As Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS, has said of the AIDS pandemic’s concentration in Africa, “If this would have happened…with white people, the reaction would be different.”

http://www.africaaction.org/newsroom/index.php?op=read&documentid=451&type=14



France Accuses Bush of Blackmailing Poverty-Stricken, AIDS-Ridden Nations
13-Jul-04
AIDS
USA Today: "France accused the United States on Tuesday of pressuring developing countries to give up their right to make cheap generic HIV drugs in return for free-trade agreements -- with President Jacques Chirac calling the tactic 'tantamount to blackmail.' A U.S. official dismissed the French allegation as 'nonsense,' while delegates to the International AIDS Conference lamented figures showing only about 7% of the 6 million people in poor countries who need antiretroviral treatment are getting it. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said 'We hear a lot about weapons of mass destruction, we hear a lot about terrorism. And we are worried about weapons of mass destruction because of the potential to kill thousands. Here we have an epidemic that is killing millions. What is the response?' "


Bush's Abstinence Only AIDS Scheme Endangers the Lives of Millions
11-Jul-04
AIDS
The AIDS epidemic is intensifying, threatening a future global nightmare of epic proportions. So what is the Idiot Bush's solution? A policy based predominantly on abstinence only! How is abstinence supposed to help women in Africa and other countries whose husbands are infected? These women, once infected, may then transmit the disease to their unfborn children. It is sheer murderous insanity. Members of the international community attending this week's AIDS conference have nothing good to say about Bush's scheme. Says Poul Nielson, the EU's outspoken Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Bush is 'preaching one line only and denying people's rights by trying to push them into abstinence. It will weaken the battle against Aids, and the unfortunate reality is that it will directly endanger the lives of millions of women."




Bush Promised $15 Billion to Fight Aids, But Instead Has Used AIDS Crisis to Help Drug Barons
28-Mar-04
AIDS
Donald G. McNeil, Jr. writes: "Three years after the United Nations declared a worldwide offensive against AIDS and 14 months after Bush promised $15 billion for AIDS treatment in poor countries, shortages of money and battles over patents have kept anti-retroviral drugs from reaching more than 90 percent of the poor people who need them." Out of 6 million people in need of treatment, only 300,000 are receiving it, "While Bush promised in his 2003 State of the Union address to spend $15 billion over five years on AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean, his budget requests have fallen far short of that goal. For the most recent donation to the Global Fund, he requested only $200 million, although Congress authorized $550 million." Just as reprehensible: "Advocates of cheap drugs say the Bush administration has yielded to pressure from the pharmaceutical lobby to find ways to reject the generics."




American Medical Students Mobilize Against Bush's Worthless AIDS Program
15-Mar-04
AIDS
The American Medical Students Assoc. says, "On a global scale, HIV/AIDS has infected 42 million, killed 25 million and orphaned 14 million children and the number of infected increases by 2 every 30 seconds. In the face of this crisis, Bush has decided to respond with broken promises and harmful trade policies. 'The current Administration has underfunded important multilateral initiatives such as the global fund and is pushing trade agreements which will dramatically restrict access to life-saving generic medications for people living with HIV in developing nations. In the U.S., Bush has flat- funded programs such as the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), resulting in patients on waiting lists - and dying on waiting lists,' states Lauren Oshman, M.D., M.P.H., AMSA National President."



:cry:
As with Reagan, Bush is ignoring the real problem, because in his mind I believe he believes these people deserve to die, since they have "sinned" and are being punished. They close their eyes to the real problem and really doesn't see how it relates to terrorism and poverty.

Here's the whole ball of wax, his promises and misleads:

http://archive.democrats.com/preview.cfm?term=AIDS