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REMARKS BY:
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Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services
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PLACE:
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The Dominican Republic
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DATE:
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October 4, 2004
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AIDS and Medical Diplomacy
Good morning everyone. I would like to thank our host, Ambassador Hertell; the Surgeon General, Richard Carmona; the Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Randall Tobias; the Director of PAHO, Mirta Roses, the Assistant Administrator for Global Health, Ann Peterson.
As you all know, Americans on the mainland have watched a series of shattering hurricanes deal blow after blow to this region. One after another, these storms have killed people, caused floods, destroyed homes, and sent crowds fleeing, here in the Dominican Republic, and also in Grenada, the Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, and, in our country, Florida, Alabama and other states. I've just come from Haiti, where the devastation is especially intense.
[Here the Secretary discussed what he had seen in Haiti]
I know you have expressed our sympathy to the people of these islands and to their governments. And we can all be proud that our government has sent many emergency supplies to help, including hygiene kits, mosquito nets, kitchen sets, blankets, bedding, water containers, and plastic sheeting. I was pleased to be able to bring many of these supplies to Haiti. I'm sure each of you will make sure American aid reaches the hardest hit parts of the islands you work on.
I wanted to bring you the latest news from Washington. We just opened the new National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall. I encourage you to visit the museum on your next visit to Washington. This museum preserves the history and artifacts of American tribes from the Aleut of Alaska to the Mapuche of southern Chile.
I think it's safe to say that the Aleut and the Mapuche shared the Americas for centuries without ever hearing of each other. But we live in a very different hemisphere today: thanks to the advances of communication, transportation, and commerce we have more contact with each other than ever before. We have no excuse for not using these advances to promote peace, prosperity, and good health.
I met with the health ministers of the Americas on Monday in Washington. I told them how proud I am of our achievements in promoting good health across the Western Hemisphere. In the United States, we have made many advances in our health care industry, from wider use of information technology to better protection against epidemics and bioterrorism. I also talked about what we have done together to advance the health of our entire hemisphere. We've eradicated smallpox. We've eradicated polio. We have interrupted indigenous transmission of measles in the hemisphere. We're also working to prevent and control the spread of AIDS.
AIDS, as you know, is a particular focus of mine and of President Bush's. And AIDS is what I want to talk to you about this morning. As you all know, back in 2001, President Bush laid the cornerstone for development of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. I am proud to serve as Chairman of the Fund, which has provided grants in the Americas to 20 countries individually and to five multi-country consortia. And last year, President Bush announced his Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, committing $15 billion over five years to fight AIDS in the hardest hit countries, including two countries here in the Caribbean, Haiti and Guyana. From providing anti-retroviral drugs to teaching people to avoid risky behaviors, we have been working to stop the spread of the virus, to keep those who have it alive, and to protect the orphans of those it strikes down.
I'm also proud that the Global Fund is fighting AIDS by making grants worth more than $100 million over two years to the governments of the Dominican Republic, Belize, Cuba, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and Suriname, as well as to two multi-country Caribbean organizations.
Supporting the Global Fund and working to fight AIDS in the Caribbean are just two examples of a sentiment we all know well: American compassion. Every one of us, old or young, strong or weak, has the power to do good. Some of us do good without leaving our neighborhood. Others, like you, are willing to travel abroad to provide treatment, prevention, and comfort to the poorest places of the earth. Giving vaccines, building hospitals, teaching medicine, digging wells, keeping food safe, and working as nurses, epidemiologists, missionaries, counselors…these great works of charity remind us of our common humanity and inspire us to greater achievement.
Every act of generosity helps the recipient and the giver. By serving as models of compassion, we can also change the world. As Gandhi said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
By spreading good will, good works keep doing good even after the workers go home. When Americans help other people, they teach them to love America. And people who love America are more likely to emulate our freedom.
One of the best ways to earn the trust of those in need is with health care. Good health is essential to all peoples in all nations - whether those governments are friends or not - and whether those governments recognize one another or not. Good works, especially in health care, can transform foreign policy into medical diplomacy.
You don't have to share a man's faith to save his life. You don't have to speak a woman's language to cure her illness. You don't need to grow up in a town to heal its people. But you do have to understand your place in the world and your responsibility to love your neighbors, whether they live down the street or across the sea.
What I've learned, my friends, is that great medicine makes wonderful neighbors, and it makes excellent foreign policy too. All of us can practice health diplomacy. We understand the critical importance of good health. And all of us can incorporate the promotion of good health into everything we do-strengthening the bonds of friendship, commerce, and good health.
Thank you.
Last Revised: October 7, 2004
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