Call the White House on World AIDS Day — December 1, 2003

Issue

World AIDS Day — December 1st, 2003 — is a time for us to remember the millions of people around the world who have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. Some 42 million people worldwide are infected with HIV/AIDS; more than 14 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

But, treatments do exist and prevention methods do work. It takes commitment, compassion… and money.

Action

CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AT (202) 456-1111. Join us in urging President Bush to propose a budget for 2005 that provides funding to meet the needs of the millions of people dying all over the world from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Take just one minute to call the White House — (202) 456-1111 — on Monday, December 1st.

By calling the White House, you could help get funding to programs that will treat those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, and prevent more people from becoming infected.

Here’s what we’d like you, in your own words, to say:

Urge the President to deliver on his promise to the world by proposing a budget for 2005 which will fully fund the United State’s share of the world’s need for global AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria funding without taking the money from other health and development programs.

Tell President Bush that you support the United States spending $5.4 billion for global AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in 2005.

Together with thousands of Americans across the United States, you will send a message to our President that we want to see action to stop the spread of AIDS.

Background

Despite White House objections, House and Senate conferees have agreed upon appropriations totaling $2.4 billion to confront HIV/AIDS for 2004. Several months ago President Bush signed the U.S. Leadership against HIV/AIDS… Act, which authorized $3 billion in spending in 2004, but the White House only sought around $2 billion, including research funds, for the 2004 budget year. Happily, both House and Senate are prepared to appropriate more than the White House wants for the Global Fund (an effective multilateral effort to fund global HIV/AIDS initiatives), but both approved figures are far lower than that which is needed.

Even these higher figures, however, are inadequate for the crisis, nor do we believe what is being appropriated is the U.S.’s fair share. When we call for $5.4 billion for fiscal year 2005, we are advancing need-based figures and the U.S. fair share of the total needed.

How did we arrive at that figure? The Global Fund confronts AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Thus funding appeals have tended to link the three together. UN AIDS recommends that $10.6 billion will be needed in 2005. TB experts recommend funding of another $2 billion; malaria, another $3 billion. A third of that—which is in range of the typical U.S. share in multilateral initiatives and is less than the U.S. GNP percentage of the global economy—is $5.1 billion. The Bush Administration has preferred to include AIDS research in its global figures, which would add $300 million to the total. Thus, $5.4 billion for 2005.

One of the key explanations offered by the White House for its low figures is that Africa and much of the Global South lacks the capacity to absorb $3 billion or more. Increasingly, that is being shown to be incorrect.

We need to do our share to confront this massive human tragedy. A call to the White House on World AIDS Day is a valuable step to take.

— Written by Leon Spencer, Washington Office on Africa

General Assembly

The 213th General Assembly (2001) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), out of profound concern for families, communities, and nations ravaged by the HIV/AIDS epidemic [among other things]:

Directs the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly to write a letter to the President of the United States, calling upon the United States government to allocate greater resources toward addressing the epidemic and poverty that fans it, as well as prevention and affordable treatment initiatives recommended according to the WHO Massive Effort, and to show flexibility regarding trade agreements and intellectual property rights so that life-saving drugs can be available to all affected populations.Requests the Presbyterian Washington Office and the Presbyterian UN Office to support advocacy efforts to address the Massive Effort Against the Diseases of Poverty, and the need to make affordable medication available to countries in the developing world. (Minutes, 2001, Part I, p. 336)