Press Releases

PAYNE BACKS LANDMARK BILL TO REAUTHORIZE HISTORIC U.S. EFFORT TO COMBAT GLOBAL HIV/AIDS, TB, AND MALARIA

This Program Has Already Saved Millions of Lives and Can Help Restore American Moral Leadership around the World

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Donald M. Payne, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, today joined a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives in support of landmark legislation that will extend and expand a key initiative to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria around the globe.  The Lantos-Hyde U.S. Global Leadership against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization was approved by a vote of 308 - 116.

“Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in 1981, 20 million men, women and children around the globe have died from the disease, with about three-fourths of the deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa” said Payne.  “Today, there are 40 million people around the globe who are HIV-positive.  Each and every day, another 6,000 people become infected with HIV.  There is a moral imperative to combat this epidemic.”

In May 2003, on a bipartisan basis, the Congress enacted the U.S. Leadership against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act (PL 108-25) – authorizing $15 billion over five years for U.S. contributions to both bilateral and multilateral efforts.  It was based on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which he unveiled in January 2003.  Over the last five years, this program has been critical, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa – for example, having provided life-saving drugs to almost 1.5 million AIDS patients and having promoted successful programs to prevent the spread of the HIV infection.

This bill reauthorizes and expands this key initiative over the next five years – authorizing $50 billion.  It is a carefully-crafted bipartisan compromise – worked out between House Democrats, House Republicans, and the Bush Administration.

In the first five years of the U.S. response to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, U.S. policy was driven by the urgency of an emergency response.  Under this bill, the U.S. will develop and implement strategies to transition from the emergency phase to long-term sustainability that can be maintained by the host countries.

The bill’s goals include:  by 2013, preventing 12 million new HIV infections; providing life-saving drugs for 3 million AIDS patients; providing medical and non-medical care for 12 million people (including 5 million orphans); and training 140,000 new health care workers.

“Back in 2003, the Congress launched this program, proposed by President Bush, on a bipartisan basis,” said Payne.  “I am pleased that today, once again on a strong bipartisan basis, the Congress is renewing and expanding this program over the next five years.  The United States is showing moral leadership by leading this global effort to work fervently to eradicate HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria from the face of the globe.”

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