For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Justin Burke - 213.201.1525 EMAIL:jburke@apla.org
AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES CALLS GLOBAL AIDS BILL FIRST STEP IN REAL U.S. RESPONSE TO GLOBAL CRISIS
Los Angeles, May 29, 2003--AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today applauded President Bush for signing a $15 billion global AIDS bill, and encouraged advocacy groups to pressure Congress to fund the measure.
The Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, signed Tuesday, authorizes – but does not appropriate – $3 billion a year over the next five years for international HIV/AIDS programs in 14 African and Caribbean countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic.
The measure allows for up to $1 billion in 2004 for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and includes funding for care and treatment, anti-retroviral AIDS medications, prevention, palliative care and money for AIDS orphans. The bill also sets aside a significant percentage of prevention funding for abstinence-only education favored by social conservatives.
“The Emergency Plan is a compromise measure with some very troubling provisions,” said APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson. “However, it is a significant first step in a real U.S. response to the global AIDS crisis.”
The bill, originally sponsored by U. S. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), passed after rancorous debate over AIDS prevention strategies and various attempts to amend the measure.
President Bush pushed Congress to pass the bill before the Group of Eight (G8) summit in France next week. He is expected to urge the other six wealthiest nations – Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada, plus Russia -- to join the U.S. led initiative in making AIDS a global priority.
“We hope the Administration will push just as hard for funding as it has for passage of the bill,” Thompson said. “Otherwise, this legislation will look like a very cynical attempt on the part of the U.S. to make it appear as if we’re doing something about the global AIDS epidemic when we’re not.”
-APLA-
