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Bush Does The Right ThingAlthough I am not very fond of our President, I applaud his efforts.
FROM THE USA TODAY.
Bush seeks $30B for AIDS program
From staff and wire reports
WASHINGTON — President Bush called on Congress Wednesday to double the U.S. program for fighting HIV-AIDS in Africa to $30 billion and to renew it for five more years, until 2013.
Through March 31, the $15 billion program has supported treatment for 1.1 million people in 15 countries, including more than 1 million in Africa, Bush said in remarks in the White House Rose Garden.
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The 15 countries, mainly in Africa, account for half of the world's 39 million HIV-positive people, the White House says.
The target countries include Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia.
"When I took office, an HIV diagnosis in Africa's poorest communities was usually a death sentence. Parents watched their babies die needlessly because local clinics lacked effective treatments," the president said. "Once again, the generosity of the American people is one of the great untold stories of our time."
The new funds, if authorized, would provide treatment for 2.5 million people under the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, Bush said.
The president called on Congress not only to reauthorize the program, which expires in September 2008, but to double the initial commitment to an additional $30 billion for HIV-AIDS prevention, care and treatment over the next five years.
To underscore U.S. commitment to what Bush called this "great and noble effort," first lady Laura Bush will travel to Zambia, Senegal, Mali and Mozambique June 25-29, he said.
Bush called the program the largest international health initiative in history dedicated to a single disease.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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