For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 19, 2002
President Bush's International Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative
Policy Accomplishments and Initiatives (pdf)
Today's Presidential Action
President Bush announced a new $500 million International Mother
and Child HIV Prevention Initiative that seeks to prevent the
transmission of HIV/AIDS from mothers to infants and to improve health
care delivery in Africa and the Caribbean. Through a combination of
improving care and drug treatment and building the healthcare delivery
capacity, this new effort is expected to reach up to one million women
annually and reduce mother to child transmission by forty percent
within five years or less in twelve African countries and the
Caribbean. This Initiative will complement the efforts of the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and represents the next
essential step in the global struggle against AIDS.
The International Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative
The Initiative focuses on treatment and care for HIV infected
pregnant women to reduce transmission of HIV/AIDS to infants. The
Initiative is focused in two areas: (1) increasing the availability of
preventive care, including drug treatments; and (2) building healthcare
delivery systems to reach as many women as possible with the care they
need.
Increasing Preventive Treatment and Care
Where adequate
infrastructure exists, administering combination antiretroviral therapy
to the mother beginning in the second trimester, and treating the
mother and child following birth.
Where adequate infrastructure
does not exist, administering a single dose of nevirapine to the mother
at the time of delivery and at least one dose to the infant shortly
after birth.
Where capacity allows, providing care and treatment
to eligible family members.
As appropriate, supporting safer
breastfeeding practices, replacement feeding or early weaning for
infants after birth.
Building Healthcare Delivery Systems
Hospital/clinics
twinning. Pairing U.S. hospitals and clinics with African and Caribbean
counterparts, facilitating the training of personnel and implementation
of prevention, care and treatment programs.
Volunteer medical and
nursing training corps. Attracting, recruiting and helping place
volunteer medical professionals in these countries to develop
professional capacity at the local level. Recruiting and paying
African medical and graduate students to provide testing, treatment and
care.
Supporting NGOs and governments to help expand existing
activities and create new public-private partnerships aimed at
significantly reducing MTCT and helping families.
The International Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative will
be funded at $500 million. The Administration is working with Congress
to direct $200 million in the supplemental bill to this effort, and
will request an additional $300 million in the FY 2004 budget. The
initial countries proposed for this Initiative are:
Africa -- Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique,
Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. In FY 2004, the program expands to
Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zambia
Caribbean -- Guyana, Haiti and
regional efforts though the Caribbean Regional Epidemiological Center
(CAREC).
The Initiative is scaleable so that it could be expanded within
these countries or to additional countries globally at a future time.
Background on Today's Presidential Action
Worldwide, over 2 million women with HIV give birth each year,
resulting in 720,000 babies who are infected with HIV during the
mother's pregnancy, during birth or through breastfeeding.
Particularly hard-hit are the countries of Africa and the Caribbean,
where rates of infection are rising. With the provision of simple
low-cost drug interventions like nevirapine, transmission rates can be
reduced by up to 40 percent in targeted countries, saving tens of
thousands of newborns from HIV infection.
President Bush's Commitment to Halting the Spread of HIV/AIDS
In FY 2002, the United States is providing $988 million for global
HIV/AIDS assistance -- a 36% increase over FY 2001. In his FY 2003
Budget, President Bush proposed $1.1 billion in global HIV/AIDS
assistance, including $640 million for USAID and $477 for HHS -- a 13
percent increase. The Bush Administration has dedicated $500 million
to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, making the
United States by far the leading contributor to the Fund.
With this initiative, the United States is raising by $500 million
its commitment to stop mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, which
was funded at less than $20 million in FY '01. This new International
Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative reflects an additional
commitment beyond the existing U.S. commitment to the Global Fund.
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