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Politics

: The Gavel

House Passes Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde US Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act

By Jesse Lee

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The House has just passed the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act, H.R. 5501, by a vote of 308-116. This bill authorizes $50 billion for the United States? bilateral and multilateral programs to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria for fiscal years 2009 through 2013. It seeks to continue the bipartisan commitment to aggressively prevent, treat, and care for those living with HIV/AIDS, and cure those with TB and malaria in the least developed countries by launching a second five-year strategy to achieve these goals.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “For those of us who have been involved in these issues over the years, we know that for our country to be healthy, for the eradication of these diseases to take place, we must have a global approach to it. Disease knows no borders and boundaries. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and I just had the opportunity to visit a PEPFAR site in India at the Salvation Army, where they were distributing drugs through an organized regiment related to hygiene, and help people with HIV and AIDS. And we can tell you from firsthand experience ? I have visited these sites in South Africa and in India ? that wherever we go, where there is great appreciation for what our country is doing and President Bush?s leadership on this subject.”

Rep. Howard Berman (CA-28): “As a direct result of the extraordinarily successful law we passed five years ago, the United States has provided life-saving drugs to nearly 1.5 million men, women, and children; supported care for nearly seven million people, including 2.7 million orphans and vulnerable children; and prevented an estimated 150,000 infant infections around the world. The 2003 legislation firmly established the United States as the leading provider in the world of HIV-AIDS assistance for prevention, treatment, and care. It has reminded the global community that Americans are a compassionate and generous people and so has helped to repair our nation’s badly damaged image overseas. In many ways, that legislation has had great healing power.”

Rep. Jim McGovern (MA-03): “Over the past five years, we have literally gone from watching people die from HIV-AIDS to watching people live and returning to productive life in their communities. The 2003 Act provided $15 billion over five years. H.R. 5501 provides $50 billion, a direct response to the needs identified over the past five years for life-saving medicines and well-trained, effective national health care systems. The 2003 law relied upon the health care, work force and infrastructure already in place in developing countries. In a far-sighted move, Mr. Speaker, today’s bill invests in strengthening HIV-related health care systems and building the capacity of the health care work force in these nations.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 02, 2008 (boomark / email).