President Bush pledged on Saturday to help Africa in its "courageous fight" against AIDS and called on the U.S. Congress to fully fund his $15 billion plan to combat the disease. Posted on 07/12/2003 10:56:40 AM PDT by Uncle Bill
Bush Calls for Full $15 Billion for AIDS in Africa
Reuters
By Patricia Wilson
July 12, 2003 10:08 AM ET
President Bush pledged on Saturday to help Africa in its "courageous fight" against AIDS and called on the U.S. Congress to fully fund his $15 billion plan to combat the disease.
At the last stop on his five-day, five-nation African tour, Bush also said Washington would stand with its friends and allies to end regional wars. He and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo were expected to discuss the possibility of the United States contributing troops to a mainly African peacekeeping force for Liberia at their meeting on Saturday.
Bush says he will join efforts to enforce a fragile cease-fire to end Liberia's civil war, but is waiting on reports from U.S. military experts in the West African state before deciding whether to send troops.
"Progress in Africa depends on peace and stability, so America is standing with friends and allies to help end regional wars," he said in his weekly radio address.
But Bush focused mainly on AIDS, a disease he said posed "one of the gravest dangers" Africa has ever faced.
He said the need for help was urgent, with almost 30 million people in Africa living with HIV/AIDS including three million children under the age of 15.
"People in Africa are waging a courageous fight against this disease," Bush said. He cited progress in Uganda, which he visited on Friday, saying the country had significantly reduced the rate of infection through a program of abstinence, faithfulness and education.
"Yet current efforts to oppose the disease are simply not equal to the need. ... Africa has the will to fight AIDS but it needs the resources as well."
CONGRESS UNDER PRESSURE
Bush's pledge came after Republicans in the House of Representatives moved bills backing his request for $2 billion next year to fight the global pandemic -- $1 billion less than the amount provided for in a plan he signed in May.
The $2 billion is in line with the White House request for the first year, but White House officials have said Bush would seek greater amounts in subsequent years.
"I urge the entire Congress to fully fund my request for the emergency plan for AIDS relief, so that America can help turn the tide against AIDS in Africa," he said.
In May, Bush signed into law a $15 billion plan to help combat the disease in Africa and the Caribbean, tripling U.S. spending over five years.
The new law, a surprise priority in the president's State of the Union address, means anti-viral treatment will be available to about 2 million HIV-infected people in Africa and the Caribbean who cannot afford the costly cocktail of drugs that can prolong and improve their lives.
It also provides hospice care for the dying, helps some of the 13 million children who have lost one or both parents and intensifies prevention programs through strategies like sexual abstinence, education and promotion of condom use.
The White House said the plan had the potential to prevent 7 million new HIV infections within a decade.
The AIDS initiative focuses principally on Botswana, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, as well as Guyana and Haiti in the Caribbean.
President George W. Bush - Biography
SOURCE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html
"George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. Formerly the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, President Bush has earned a reputation as a compassionate conservative who shapes policy based on the principles of limited government,..."
See that good looking dude on the left? He's got FAR BETTER THINGS to do than conduct Freepathons! Come on, let's get this thing over with.
I wonder if Jr. reminded Africans that AIDS is nearly 100% preventable and that infected African men outta stop raping babies? Naw, it takes less spine to dole out money that isn't his.
I am grateful that Bush is President and thank G-d for that every day. But when oh when is a President going to get to our Veterans.
Wild Thing
Vote Bush. Limiting government by spending more than any president in U.S. history, and, doing it faster than any president in U.S. history, and, magically, somehow is smart enough to implement this strategy, by incrementally pushing us towards small limited government and government accountability by grossly expanding the size and scope of government. Though securing our children to the anchor of slavery, it is done in a compassionate way. Vote Bush.
The World Health Organisation published the following definition of AIDS that was exclusively applicable to developing countries. (3)
Tabel 1: WHO AIDS Definition (1986) for adults in developing countries (3): Major signs: - weight loss 10% - chronic diarrhoea 1 month - fever 1 month (intermittent or constant) Minor signs: - cough for > 1 month - generalized itching - recurrent herpes zoster - oro-pharyngeal candidiasis - chronic progressive and disseminated herpes simplex infection - generalized lymphadenopathy
Exclusion criteria: - cancer - severe malnutrition - other recognized causes
AIDS is defined by the existance of: - at least 2 major signs and - at least 1 minor sign and - in absence of any exclusion criteria or - in a patient with generalized Kaposi's sarcoma or - in a patient with cryptococcal meningitis
Under this, someone is declared to be suffering from AIDS if they have had, for example, diarrhoea for more than a month, pronounced weight loss and coughing or general itching and no other cause can be ascertained with available means. On this definition an HIV test is expressly not necessary, and shortage of funds means that one is still only rarely carried out today. And on the Ugandan health ministry's registration form for people with AIDS the possibility of an HIV test is not even mentioned.
This means that AIDS, the illness that in the words of Professor Luc Montagnier, the man who discovered HIV, "has no typical symptoms", is being diagnosed in developing countries exclusively on the basis of symptoms. (7) The symptoms called for are not exactly rare in a country with twenty years of systematic destruction behind it. So it is not really surprising that, as a result, Uganda has been declared as the country with the highest AIDS rate.
This is from: Here.
Note that no blood test is required by the WHO to diagnose someone as having aids. There is all kinds of info available suggesting that a high percentage of people diagnosed with aids have malaria. It's all about money. How much can they scam from us.
Compassionate conservatism is about socialism, not Americanism
No to 'compassionate conservatism'
"Well, we've all witnessed the "compassionate conservative" convention.
It left me feeling empty.
...Marvin Olasky, the former Marxist journalism professor who coined the term. But he and George W. Bush are barking up the wrong tree if they think "compassionate conservatism" is going to rally popular support necessary to effect the real change needed to turn this country around."
Vote Bush. Stealing your money for a better tomorrow
I don't know that Bush is a substitute for God, but I do know that following the Godly ten commandments pretty well eliminates the problem of AIDs/HIV. The only exception where innocent victims are affected has been through contaminated blood supplies and health workers exposed in the care of AIDs patients. I certainly have no objection to helping this type of victims. We have enough irresponsibility in this country through our various welfare programs without exporting it to Africa.
So rich myself, (lies) I do not want an extra tax bracket, so I declined. I am sure all these beautiful US greenbacks will be applied painstakingly. Or will it be Paaarteee time?
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